Okay, so maybe that’s a little harsh. Missed approaches don’t inspire terror. Stress? Absolutely. But, they don’t have to.
Have you heard the phrase “Expect the Unexpected”? That certainly applies to any type of flying, but especially to instrument approaches when the ceilings are low. How low? I have a personal rule of thumb that whenever the ceilings at my destination airport are less than 500 feet above the approach minimums, I’m planning on executing the missed approach. That way, I expect the unexpected.
Let’s take a look at two different scenarios. In scenario 1, Pilot Bob is flying his Meridian into his destination airport. Bob listens to the ATIS, learning that the ceiling is 400 feet AGL and the winds are 180 at 13. Bob picks runway 18, which has an LPV approach down to 200 feet AGL. Bob briefs the approach, loads the approach into his GPS, and is cleared for the approach by ATC. When the airplane captures the glidepath, Bob puts his gear and flaps down, sets his power, then waits to see the ground. He relaxes a little in his seat while the airplane flies the approach, fully expecting to make a nice landing. He is already planning out where he’ll eat lunch before his meeting.
“Minimums, minimums” comes blaring through his headset. Visions of BBQ are replaced by the sudden fact that Bob can’t see the ground at the approach minimums. His brisket plans are quickly disrupted by the fact that he has to execute a missed approach. He presses the Go Around button on his power lever while pushing the power lever forward, almost forgetting to pitch up (the Meridian autopilot turns off when the Go Around button is pressed, while his old Cirrus the autopilot stays on). He recovers, yanking the stick back to start the Meridian climbing.
His torque gauge turns red just as he realizes he pushed the power lever forward too far. Thoughts of a hot section now enter his head, something that probably isn’t proper to be thinking about 175 feet above the ground. The good news is, he is climbing and accelerating. He adjusts the power lever to get the torque out of the red range, then moves on to getting his autopilot re-engaged.
The Go Around button does take the GPS out of Suspend, so the missed approach procedure is active in the flight plan, reducing Bob’s workload. He starts quickly pressing buttons on the autopilot, engaging it so it starts flying. He quickly glances back at his airspeed indicator which is now, alarmingly, slowing down. He wipes a bead of sweat from his brow while his eyes dart around the cockpit, trying to figure out why the airplane is now slowing down. He is pitched up, his power is set, but the airspeed is degrading.
Finally, his eyes settle on the gear handle. He forgot to put the gear and the flaps up! Rapidly, he retracts the flaps and puts the gear handle up, then sees the airspeed start to accelerate. His headset crackles with ATC talking to him, picking up the last part of the transmission now that his brain is re-engaged. “…Say intentions.”
“I think that was for me, N123AB,” Bob says. “We are going missed.”
“N123AB, contact departure,” replies the tower.
Bob switches to departure, checks in, and takes a breath. His heart beat slows. He breathes a few breaths. All is now well once again. His brain starts thinking again instead of just reacting. He glances at his altimeter, realizing that the missed approach altitude is 3,600 MSL, but for some reason, the autopilot leveled off at 2,300 MSL. He quickly spins the altitude selector for 3,600 MSL just as his TAWS alert starts chiming “Obstacle Ahead”. He jams the VS button on the autopilot, spins the wheel for 2,000 FPM, and the airplane shoots up. The TAWS alert quickly silences, then he relaxes again.
“N123AB, we show you off course,” says departure. Bob stares at his moving map, realizing that he actually is off course.
“N123AB, correcting,” he replies. Finally, his eyes move up to his autopilot scoreboard. He sees that the autopilot is still in GA mode, which makes the airplane fly straight ahead and wings level. The missed approach procedure was a climb to 1,900, then a left turn direct the ABCDE fix. Because the autopilot was in GA mode still, he flew 5 miles in the wrong direction, toward an obstacle.
His hand darts out to the autopilot controller, presses the NAV button, but the airplane doesn’t turn. He finally remembers to press Direct To on his GPS, causing the autopilot to turn to the missed approach holding point.
“N123AB, I have a phone number for you, advise when ready to copy,” comes the next transmission from departure. Bob sinks down in his seat. “Ready to copy,” he half-heartedly replies.
In scenario 2, Pilot George is flying his TBM 850 into his destination airport. George listens to the ATIS, learning that the ceiling is 500 feet AGL and the winds are 350 at 8. George picks runway 35, which has an ILS approach down to 200 feet AGL. George briefs the approach, loads the approach into his GPS, and is vectored onto the final approach course by ATC. When the airplane captures the glide slope, Bob puts his gear and flaps down, sets his power, and sets his altitude selector for the missed approach altitude of 2,700 MSL (note, his missed approach altitude, not the approach minimums). He stays at the ready, fully expecting to go missed, but hoping the runway appears. He briefs the missed approach procedure again, just in case.
George counts down from 1,000 feet above minimums, then pushes the go around button as the “Minimums, Minimums” call comes through his headset. He sets his torque for takeoff power, pitches up, brings the gear and flaps up, then re-engages the autopilot while pressing NAV and FLC.
“N123CD is going missed,” he says to the tower.
“N123CD, contact departure,” replies the tower.
George calls departure while the airplane flies toward the holding pattern. George knows the TAF from his pre-flight weather briefing, causing him to decide to hold for 20 minutes until the ceiling goes up as forecast. 20 minutes later, the ceiling is still low, so George decides to go to his alternate instead. He is cool, calm and collected through the whole process.
See the difference between Bob and George? Bob planned on landing, then was surprised by having to fly the missed approach. George, on the other hand, planned on flying the missed approach and would have been surprised to see the runway. In scenario 2, George could have easily transitioned from going missed to landing, whereas Bob in scenario 1 had a much harder time going from landing to going missed.
Expect the unexpected. When the ceilings are low (set your own personal minimums for your definition of low), plan on flying the missed approach so you are keyed up and ready. Then, if the runway appears out of the soup, just land the airplane.