Category: How flying works
What Is a Go-Around? Why Planes Abort a Landing and Climb Away
Short answer
A go-around is when the pilots decide not to land, add power, climb away and then fly another approach or divert. It is a normal, practised manoeuvre, not an emergency, used whenever an approach or landing is not right.
What happens in a go-around
Pilots can stop an approach at any point before touchdown. They add full power, raise the nose to stop the descent and climb, raise the flaps in stages and, once climbing, raise the landing gear. In instrument flying this is called a missed approach, and a published procedure or air traffic control (ATC) gives the route. The crew then flies another approach or diverts.
Why pilots go around
Common reasons are: the runway is not clear, for example because the aircraft ahead has not left it; the approach is unstable, such as too high or too fast; strong or changing wind, including wind shear; an ATC instruction; or no landing clearance, which US rules require at airports with a control tower. A go-around is not in itself a sign of pilot error: pilots are trained from the start to go around whenever they are unhappy with an approach.
Is a go-around dangerous, and how often does it happen?
The FAA calls a go-around a safe, routine manoeuvre. Its flying handbook says a go-around is not dangerous in itself; it becomes dangerous only when started too late or flown badly. Flight Safety Foundation research names failing to go around as the number one risk factor in approach-and-landing accidents.
Go-arounds are routine but not frequent. A Flight Safety Foundation report from March 2017 cites a 2013 safety forum finding of about one to three per 1,000 approaches, varying widely between operators, and flight data from almost 500,000 flights showing 0.29 percent, or 1 in 340 approaches.
Why the decision comes early, and what passengers notice
Crews use fixed gates. Flight Safety Foundation and FAA guidance say an approach should be stable by 1,000 ft (about 300 m) above the airport in cloud or poor visibility, and by 500 ft in good visibility: on the correct path and speed, in landing configuration. If not, the crew goes around while there is still height and time.
In the cabin you may notice the engines get louder, the nose rise and the landing gear come up. Stay seated with your seat belt fastened, listen for announcements and follow the crew's instructions.
Common mistakes and myths
- Thinking a go-around is an emergency. It is a normal, trained manoeuvre.
- Unbuckling or standing up to look around. Stay seated and belted until the crew says otherwise.
- Thinking it is safer to land anyway. Continuing an unstable approach is the bigger risk.
Questions people ask
Is a go-around dangerous?
No, not in itself. The FAA calls it a safe, routine manoeuvre, and pilots practise it in training. It carries more risk when started very late and close to the ground, which is why crews decide early, using stable-approach gates.
How often do planes go around?
Not often. A 2017 Flight Safety Foundation report cites about one to three per 1,000 approaches, and flight data from almost 500,000 flights showing 0.29 percent (1 in 340), depending on the operator and the data. The same report says a short-haul airline pilot may fly one once or twice a year.
What does the AeroFox go-around lesson involve?
There are two Go-around lessons. In the light trainer, you fly a high, fast approach and decide at 300 ft: full power, raise the nose, then flaps up in stages. In the airliner, you reach minimums with no runway in sight, press TO/GA, set flaps 15 and raise the gear once climbing.
Practise it in the simulator
The free Go-around lessons let you practise the decision and the order of actions: in a light trainer from a high, fast approach at 300 ft, and in an airliner from minimums with no runway in sight.
Another lesson on this topic: Go-around
Related explainers
Sources
- Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), chapter 9 Approaches and Landings: Go-Arounds (Rejected Landings) (FAA)
- Go-Arounds Explained (April 2025) (FAA)
- Go-Around Decision-Making and Execution Project, final report (March 2017) (Flight Safety Foundation)
- ALAR Briefing Note 7.1, Stabilized Approach (Flight Safety Foundation)
- Advisory Circular 91-79A Change 1, Mitigating the Risks of a Runway Overrun Upon Landing (2016) (FAA)
- Pilot/Controller Glossary: Missed approach (FAA)
- Go-arounds and other unusual activity (Airservices Australia)
- Why a go-around is nothing to fear (blog, August 2022) (NATS)
- 14 CFR 91.129(i), takeoff, landing and taxi clearance (US Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR))
- 14 CFR 121.317, passenger information and seat belt requirements (US Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR))
About these explainers
AeroFox is a free, public-interest project with no paid features. The explainers are written by the AeroFox team from public sources such as FAA handbooks, NASA and regulators, and, for the lessons from the news, from the news reports we link to. Each page lists its sources, and pages are updated when the facts or the lessons change. They explain ideas. They are not flight instruction, medical advice or legal advice, and they do not count toward any licence.