Recommends That Either Pilot Be Able To Initiate Missed Approach

In a Safety Alert For Operators (SAFO) published by the FAA Thursday, the agency has recommended that flight crews should be provided with a written policy emphasizing that either pilot may make a go-around callout, and that the response to a go-around callout is an immediate missed approach.

The SAFO stems from an incident in 2007, in which an Embraer ERJ-170 overran the end of the runway while landing during snow conditions. On final approach, at an altitude of about 190 feet above ground level (AGL), the Captain, the pilot monitoring, stated he had the approach lights in sight. About 4 seconds afterward, the Captain stated the runway lights were in sight. However, when the airplane was at an altitude of 80 feet AGL, the Captain indicated he could not see the end of the runway and stated, “let’s go [around].” The First Officer, the pilot flying, then stated he had the end of the runway in sight and continued the approach.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the flightcrew to execute a missed approach when visual cues for the runway were not distinct and identifiable. The First Officer’s response to the Captain’s go-around callout was not an immediate go-around maneuver. This failure to respond did not meet with the NTSB’s expectation that, regardless of which pilot calls for the go-around, the needed response should be executing a missed approach. The air carrier’s crew resource management (CRM) training guidance did not include this information or indicate that either pilot could call for a go-around. Also, post accident interviews with company pilots and check airmen indicated varying understanding of the role of the monitoring pilot (in particular, a monitoring captain) in initiating a go-around callout.

According to the FAA, approach and landing accidents remain among the highest ranked categories of airline fatal accidents. The NTSB found the unwillingness of pilots to execute a go-around and missed approach, when necessary, was the cause, at least in part, of some approach and landing accidents. It is critical to flight safety that both the pilot flying and the pilot monitoring should be able to call for a go-around if either pilot believes an unsafe condition exists. Also, although CRM principles prescribe that some cockpit decisions can be made by crew consensus, others, including the go-around callout, require immediate action, without question, because of the immediacy of the situation. The FAA will issue a Notice to incorporate Go-around guidance into the “Standard Operating Procedures for Flight Deck Crewmembers”, and “Flight Crew Procedures During Taxi Operations” will also be revised to include this information.

The FAA recommends that operators should publish or reinforce existing written policy emphasizing that:

• Either the pilot flying or the pilot monitoring may make a go-around callout, and
• The flying pilot’s immediate response to a go-around callout by the non-flying pilot is execution of a missed approach.

FMI: www.faa.gov