V-Flyer

I flew on VS1 LHR-EWR on Monday and as we reached the New York area there was low cloud and fog about. As we came in to land at Newark and were at about 500ft (my estimate) the engines were suddenly switched to full power and we were thrust skyward in dramatic fashion. Its quite impressive what 200 tons of 747 can do when all the horses are called upon at short notice.

A short while after, the captain came on the PA system to say that he had had to abort the landing because there was a "slow moving aircraft" still on the runway [under the cloud presumably]. It took about 15-20 mins to climb back up, circle and come in to land again.

There was no real drama and second time in we landed with no problems.

Overall it was a great flight. I'll try to do a TR when I get some time.

Martin

I've only ever had one 'go around' and that was much further away from the runway than you were.

Regarding full power, although it may feel like it to the passenger, often a fairly lightly loaded (most of the fuel has burnt off) 747 won't need anything like full power to achieve a pretty agressive climb away from the runway.

Airliners are flown well within their limits 99% of the time.

It does sound fun to get the odd roller-coaster feeling though

I was on VS2 and one of the CC made reference to the go-around as to why we were running 30 minutes late. Out of interest, was your flight a long one? We managed to get to the London area in 5 hours due to the good tailwind. But then we circled for a while and sat on the tarmac waiting for a stand...!

Yep, a 747 certainly has a lot of horses under the hood...

The thrust setting is TOGA (takeoff/go-around), and would be something like 90/95% of maximum. Bearing in mind that planes are all designed to still take off even if 1 engine quits, there is power to spare, and then some.

:0 :$

I'd have been a wreck. It seems you were very calm oo)

TTFN Roxy-popsy

Roxy-Popsy wrote::0 :$
I'd have been a wreck. It seems you were very calm oo)

I've had one experience of a close to landing go around and I'd say the passengers were split 50:50 between terrified and excited. I was in the latter camp; I found it thrilling.

Paul

ps it was due to a rabbit on the runway

mikethe3rd wrote: Out of interest, was your flight a long one?

Mike

Our flight VS1 was just over 8hr 30min and was lightly loaded with just 172 pax.

clarkeysntfc wrote:It does sound fun to get the odd roller-coaster feeling though

It was for me, but as Roxy-Popsy intimates, its not everyone's cup of tea.

Martin wrote:Our flight VS1 was just over 8hr 30min and was lightly loaded with just 172 pax.

Crikey! We did LHR-JFK in 6h 50m back in April. Was it headwinds?

clarkeysntfc wrote:

Martin wrote:Our flight VS1 was just over 8hr 30min and was lightly loaded with just 172 pax.

Crikey! We did LHR-JFK in 6h 50m back in April. Was it headwinds?

Strong winds this week, my VS4 return on Tuesday took 5 and a half hours for example.

Only had one go around myself too, coming into SFO where it is not unknown due to the runway layout ... similarly, some folk were not happy, others like me exhilarated!

my vs17 weds night was 8.30 heavy head winds again

Well this is about as close as I've got to one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzTip4_aFW0

flabound wrote:my vs17 weds night was 8.30 heavy head winds again

You were probbaly affected by 'Hurricane Bawbag' ) )

Have had many go-arounds in my time - including several at LHR and JFK.

I also remember seeing Concorde abort its landing at LHR many years ago!

This video of a VS 346 though is fantastic - I remember it being posted here when it happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNtWqsC9Z8g

Tinkerbelle wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNtWqsC9Z8g

Amazing vid! Thanks for sharing!

I had my very first go-around recently on Lao Airlines Obviously not as dramatic as a wide-bodied aircraft but a go-around is still a go-around

slinky09 wrote:Strong winds this week, my VS4 return on Tuesday took 5 and a half hours for example.

They are still blowing strong. I came back on VS2 yesterday and it was a 5hr 44min flight time. The captain said they averaged 100mph the whole way across the Atlantic.

5hr 36min last wed night, crazy winds!