Go-Around/Rejected Landing

• Apply takeoff power immediately and transition to a climb pitch attitude for VX or VY as appropriate, ±5 knots (CA.IV.N.S4)
• Maintain VY ±5 knots to a safe maneuvering altitude (CA.IV.N.S7)

Private allowed +10/−5. The harder half of the commercial standard is not the number, though — it is S3: make a timely decision to discontinue the approach to landing. The maneuver is graded from the moment it should have started.

Power, attitude, configuration (AFH ch. 9). In that order, every time — the order is the safety argument:

• Power stops the descent
• Attitude converts the power into a climb without stalling
• Configuration is only cleaned up once the first two are secured

Radio calls come after all three. Nobody on frequency can fly the airplane for you.

Power is the pilot's first concern. The instant you decide to go around, apply full or maximum allowable takeoff power smoothly, without hesitation, and hold it until flying speed and controllability are restored — an airplane settling toward the ground has inertia to overcome. Application is smooth as well as positive, because abrupt throttle movement in some airplanes causes the engine to falter. Carburetor heat off to obtain maximum power, as applicable (AFH ch. 9).

Because you are trimmed for a low airspeed and you have just added a lot of power. The sudden addition of power tends to raise the nose and causes left yaw, and allowing the nose to rise too early could result in an unrecoverable stall when the go-around occurs at a low altitude (AFH ch. 9).

So:

• Anticipate considerable forward elevator pressure to hold the nose level or in a safe climb attitude
• Sufficient right rudder to counteract torque and P-factor
• Accept the physics: an airplane cannot fly below stall speed and cannot climb below minimum power required speed. Resist the impulse to pitch up if airspeed is insufficient — in some circumstances it may be desirable to lower the nose briefly to gain airspeed and get off the back side of the power curve
• Once at the right airspeed and pitch, "rough trim" to relieve control pressures; precise trim comes after things stabilize

After establishing the proper climb attitude and power (AFH ch. 9):

1. After the descent has been stopped, retract the landing flaps partially or to the takeoff position as the manufacturer recommends
2. Retract flaps intermittently in small increments to let the airplane accelerate progressively — a sudden, complete retraction could cause a loss of lift and the airplane could settle into the ground
3. Flaps (at least partially) before gear, unless the AFM/POH says otherwise — because on most airplanes full flaps produce more drag than the landing gear, and if the airplane inadvertently touches down, it is desirable to have the gear down and locked
4. Gear after a positive rate of climb is established, and only after the initial trim is done and it is certain the airplane will stay airborne

The ACS wording matches: configure after a positive rate of climb has been verified or per the manufacturer's instructions (CA.IV.N.S5).

Airplane control is the first consideration in this high-workload phase — use caution reaching for the flap handle on airplanes that produce high control pressures at maximum power during a go-around (AFH ch. 9). If holding the airplane takes both hands and a bootful of rudder, the flaps wait.

The AFH names two sources (ch. 9):

1. Landing expectancy, or "set" — the anticipatory belief that conditions are not as threatening as they are and that the approach is sure to end in a safe landing
2. Pride — the mistaken belief that going around is an admission of failure

Both are addressed by the same reframe: a go-around is a normal maneuver, and the assumption that an aborted landing is invariably the consequence of a poor approach due to insufficient skill is a fallacy. Any approach or landing may result in a go-around.

The cost of delay: the most critical go-around is one started when very close to the ground. The maneuver is not inherently dangerous — it becomes dangerous only when delayed unduly or executed improperly.

From the AFH list (ch. 9):

• ATC requirements
• Unexpected appearance of hazards on the runway
• Overtaking another airplane
• Wind shear
• Wake turbulence
• Mechanical failure
• Unstable approach

Add the ACS's own trigger, which appears in every landing task: an approach that cannot be made within the tolerances specified.

The one place this instinct is inverted is Task IV.M, where a go-around caused by your own inability to hold the tolerances is itself unsatisfactory (ACS Appendix 3).

Ground effect flatters you, then takes it back: close to the ground, pilots are lulled into a false sense of security by the apparent "cushion of air" under the wings, but the cushion is imaginary. The apparent performance increase is a reduction in induced drag — it's "borrowed" performance, repaid when the airplane climbs out of the ground effect area. An attempt to climb prematurely may leave the airplane unable to climb or even to maintain altitude at full power (AFH ch. 9).

Add density altitude to that and the margin shrinks further: high density altitude reduces engine and propeller performance and degrades climb (AFH ch. 6).

Maneuver to the side of the runway or landing area when necessary to clear and avoid conflicting traffic (CA.IV.N.S6) — offsetting keeps the airplane you are overtaking, or the one departing beneath you, in sight. Maintain directional control and proper wind-drift correction throughout the climb (CA.IV.N.S8), and use runway incursion avoidance procedures if applicable (CA.IV.N.S9).

You are climbing out over a runway intersection that ATC was actively using for simultaneous operations. LAHSO exists because takeoffs and landings are being conducted on intersecting runways (PHAK ch. 14), so your go-around path may conflict with the traffic the hold-short restriction was protecting.

The mitigation happens before you accept: as PIC you have the final authority to accept or decline any LAHSO clearance, and you should know the available landing distance and whether you can comply before accepting. If the go-around path is not acceptable to you, decline the clearance — the decision costs nothing on the ground and everything at 50 feet.

Working backwards from the standard: the go-around must be started while the airplane still has the energy and altitude to execute power-attitude-configuration in that order without rushing any of them. That means the decision gate sits above the round out, not in it.

The practical technique is to set the gate in advance, on the approach — a pre-briefed point (short final, threshold, or a specific altitude) by which the airplane must be configured, on speed, on path, and trimmed, or the approach is discontinued. That converts a judgment call made under pressure into a check made against a standard you set when you were calm, which is what the "unstable approach" risk item is really asking about (AFH ch. 9).

Not necessarily: during the initial part of an extremely low go-around, it's possible for the airplane to settle onto the runway and bounce. This situation is not particularly dangerous, provided the airplane is kept straight and a constant, safe pitch attitude is maintained — with power applied the airplane attains a safe flying speed rapidly, and the advanced power cushions any secondary touchdown (AFH ch. 9).

What fails you is the panic response: pitching up to escape the runway at insufficient airspeed, or letting the airplane swerve. Keep it straight, keep the attitude, let the power do the work.

The AFH's ten (ch. 9), which read almost as a rewrite of the ACS risk elements:

1. Failure to recognize a condition that warrants a rejected landing
2. Indecision
3. Delay in initiating a go-around
4. Failure to apply maximum allowable power in a timely manner
5. Abrupt power application
6. Improper pitch attitude
7. Failure to configure the airplane appropriately
8. Attempting to climb out of ground effect prematurely
9. Failure to adequately compensate for torque/P-factor
10. Loss of aircraft control

Note that the first three are all the same error — the decision — and that they are listed first.