Go-around: why it happens, how to spot one and how to photograph it

The aircraft is already on short final, the landing gear is down, you have your focus on the nose – and suddenly the engines roar. Instead of touching down, the aircraft raises its nose and pulls up over the runway and back into the sky. A go-around is one of those moments that electrify spotters. This guide explains what happens in the cockpit, why crews abort an approach, how to recognize a go-around early and how to capture it as a photo or video – without turning it into a catastrophe that never happened.

Go-around: the short answer

In a go-around, the crew deliberately aborts an approach to landing and climbs again. They apply takeoff thrust, raise the nose to a set climb attitude, retract flaps and landing gear step by step and then follow the published missed approach procedure or an air traffic control instruction. A new approach follows – or, if the weather does not cooperate, the flight to an alternate airport.

Important for putting it in context: a go-around is not an emergency but a procedure pilots train regularly in the simulator. It can be initiated from final approach until touchdown – as long as no brakes, spoilers or thrust reversers are in use yet. Safety experts explicitly see the maneuver as a sign of good decisions, not as a mistake.

Why crews go around

The reasons can be roughly divided into three groups: problems with the approach itself, problems on or at the runway, and the weather.

The unstable approach

Airlines define a stabilized approach in their procedures. From a certain height above the runway – the so-called stabilization gate – all parameters must fit: course and glide path cleanly met, speed within the permitted window, descent rate not too high, landing gear and flaps in landing configuration, thrust stable. If any of these is not met, the procedures call for an abort. Which height and which tolerances apply exactly is set by each operator; in instrument conditions, the gate is higher than in good visibility.

Typical causes of an unstable approach are an approach that is too high or too fast, for example after a short-notice runway change or a tight shortening of the route by air traffic control, or a configuration that was established too late. How guidance on the glide path works technically is explained in the article ILS approach explained.

Runway or surroundings not clear

The runway must be clear before an aircraft crosses the threshold. If the aircraft ahead has not yet vacated, a departing aircraft is still waiting on the runway or a vehicle crosses, the abort comes either from the crew or by instruction from the tower. With heavy traffic and tight spacing, this is one of the most common reasons you observe live as a spotter. Birds or wildlife in the runway area can also trigger an abort – more in the article on bird strikes.

Weather: gusts, wind shear, visibility

Gusty wind and crosswind make speed and attitude fluctuate strongly on final. If the crew realizes the aircraft cannot be set down cleanly, it goes around. If the system triggers a wind shear warning, the approach is generally aborted and the prescribed escape procedure flown. And in fog or low clouds, the rule is: if the crew does not see the approach lights or runway at the decision altitude, they do not land. Background on crosswinds is in Crosswind landings, on lighting in Runway and taxiway lighting.

Add individual cases such as technical messages in the cockpit or an approach where air traffic control considers the distance to the aircraft ahead too tight.

Trigger	Who decides?	How likely is a new approach shortly afterward?
Unstable approach (too high, too fast, configuration)	Crew	high – usually a second attempt after a loop
Runway occupied, spacing too tight	Tower or crew	high – often just a delay
Gusts, crosswind, wind shear	Crew	open – depends on whether the weather calms down
Visibility below minimums	Crew	lower – waiting or alternate airport possible
Birds, vehicles, technical message	Crew or tower	varies

What happens in the cockpit

The sequence is similar for all airliners, but regulated differently in detail depending on type and airline:

The principle behind it is called “aviate, navigate, communicate”: first fly, then navigate, then talk. Especially with lightly loaded aircraft with all engines at full thrust, the climb is very strong, and the missed approach altitude is often low. That is why the go-around, despite all the routine, counts as a demanding phase with a high workload – another reason it is trained so often.

What the statistics say

The Flight Safety Foundation has studied go-arounds in a large project. The result sounds paradoxical: unstable approaches make up about 3.5 to 4 percent of all approaches, but only about 3 percent of them are actually aborted. The other crews land anyway. Because unstable approaches are a major risk factor for runway excursions – which according to the FSF account for around a third of all accidents – the industry specifically promotes more go-arounds, not fewer.

For you as a spotter, that means: a go-around is good news. The crew decided against the risk. You should also present it that way in your captions.

How to recognize a go-around

At the fence

A go-around usually announces itself in this order:

• The sound changes: On final, the engines run at low thrust. If it suddenly gets much louder, that is often the first sign – even before the attitude visibly changes.
• The nose rises, the descent stops: Instead of gliding flat toward the threshold, the aircraft goes into a clearly steeper attitude.
• The landing gear retracts: Shortly after the flare, the gear doors open and the wheels disappear into the fuselage.
• The flaps go back: Less conspicuous, but easy to see in photos: the flaps are then in a flatter position.

In gusty wind you often see beforehand that it is getting tight: the aircraft rocks strongly around the longitudinal axis, corrects the crab angle frantically or floats a long time over the runway. Then it pays not to lower the camera at the moment of touchdown but to keep it up.

On the flight tracker

On live maps, a go-around shows up as an altitude increase just before the runway threshold. The track continues over the airport and then turns into a loop that leads back to final. How reliable altitude and position data are is explained in the guide Flight tracking with ADS-B for spotters. There is a risk of confusion with holding patterns: a hold is typically farther from the airport and flown several times – the differences are shown in Recognizing holding patterns on the flight tracker. If the aircraft instead turns away toward another airport after the abort, Recognizing diversions and alternate landings helps you further.

On the radio

If you listen to ATC radio, you get the go-around almost in real time. The crew briefly says they are going around, on English-language radio with “going around”; if the tower orders the abort, the instruction is “go around.” Clearances for heading and altitude follow. What applies legally when listening in is covered in the article Listening to ATC radio – legal situation, and the basic terms are explained in Radio phraseology.

When and where you have the best chances

Go-arounds cannot be planned, but you can raise the probability:

• Gusty wind situations and stormy days: In strong, changeable wind, the chances rise significantly. At the Affenfelsen in Hamburg or other spots near the threshold, you also see spectacular crosswind landings on such days. Tips for shooting them are in Filming crosswind landings and storms.
• Challenging airports: At Madeira Airport in Funchal, wind and terrain make landing difficult; from Pico do Facho you overlook the approach. At Innsbruck Airport too, with its approach through the Inn valley, conditions are special – you get the view from the Innsbruck observation deck.
• Dense traffic on one runway: Where landings are tightly spaced at peak traffic, a slowly vacating aircraft ahead is enough. The Munich Airport visitors’ hill gives you a good overview of operations for this.
• Low clouds and fog: When the cloud base is close to the minimums, crews abort more often. For photos, though, the light is then difficult – tips in the article Plane spotting in bad weather.

To judge the weather situation, it is worth looking at aviation weather reports. How to read wind peaks and cloud base from a report is shown in Reading METAR and TAF. Which runway is currently in use is explained in Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport.

Photographing go-arounds

A go-around almost always comes as a surprise. So your basic setup decides whether you get it.

Prepare your camera

• Continuous autofocus: The aircraft abruptly changes direction and altitude. Continuous AF with tracking and a slightly larger focus area holds it better than a single focus point. More under Autofocus for aircraft.
• Short shutter speed: For jets, about 1/1000 second or shorter is a safe starting point so nothing blurs. With turboprops you have to weigh whether the propeller should look frozen; how to handle that is in Photographing propellers.
• Burst mode on: The most interesting moment – gear half retracted, nose steeply up – lasts only seconds.
• Frame with room: For landings you often choose a tight frame. A go-around, however, moves up out of the frame. Leave some room or zoom out a bit during the flare.

You will find the basics for typical settings at the fence in the guide Camera settings for plane spotting.

Shots worth taking

• Gear retracting: Gear bay doors open, wheels halfway – the picture tells without words what happened.
• Steep climb attitude over the runway: With runway markings or lighting in the foreground, it becomes clear how low to the ground the abort happened.
• Humid air: On humid days, condensation trails sometimes form on flaps and wings at high thrust, making the moment visible.
• The series: Three to four pictures from final through the flare to the climb often have more impact than a single frame.

Video

For video, the go-around is a gift because the sound plays along: the engines spooling up is part of the story. Take care not to set the level too tight, and hold the camera steady when the aircraft changes the frame. Helpful are Video settings for aircraft footage and Stable aircraft videos.

Staying fair: putting go-arounds in perspective

Spectacular go-around clips spread quickly. That is exactly why a clean approach matters:

• No dramatization: Terms like “near crash” or “horror landing” are simply wrong for a normal go-around. The crew did what it is trained for.
• No remote diagnoses: From the ground you rarely know why it was aborted. Write what you saw instead – wind, occupied runway, weather – and do not speculate about mistakes.
• A real emergency is something else: If an incident does actually occur, different rules apply to your behavior and your pictures. Read Witnessing an emergency landing or incident.
• Stay on permitted ground: Even for the best view of the threshold, the rule is: public paths, no restricted areas. More in the article Is plane spotting allowed? and under Spotting under the approach path.

Conclusion

A go-around is an aborted approach to landing following a fixed procedure: takeoff thrust, nose up, flaps back, gear up, fly the missed approach, new attempt. The most common triggers are unstable approaches, occupied runways and difficult wind. At the fence you recognize it first by the sound, on the flight tracker by the rising altitude just before the threshold. If you are ready on gusty days with continuous autofocus, a short shutter speed and some room in the frame, you have good chances of one of the most impressive shots at the airport – and should describe it as it is: as a good decision by the crew.