Go-Around/Rejected Landing

• Make a timely decision to go around or reject the landing (AA.III.J.S1)
• Apply the appropriate power setting for the flight condition and establish the pitch attitude for the desired performance (AA.III.J.S2)
• Establish a positive rate of climb and the appropriate airspeed/V-speed, ±5 knots (AA.III.J.S3)
• Configure and trim the airplane when appropriate (AA.III.J.S4)
• Make radio calls as appropriate (AA.III.J.S5)
• Maintain the ground track, heading, or course appropriate for the conditions, or as specified by ATC or the evaluator (AA.III.J.S6)
• Complete the appropriate procedures and checklists in a timely manner (AA.III.J.S7)

From ACS Appendix 3:

• Initiated at approximately 50 feet above the runway or landing area, approximately over the runway threshold — this is a rejected landing from the flare window, not a missed approach at minimums
• Instrument conditions need not be simulated below 100 feet above the runway
• Completion of this Task may count as one of the three required landings — and wheel contact with the runway is not required
• For a VFR-only type rating flown with a simulated engine failure, the failure is not initiated below the AFM/POH-recommended speeds or altitudes

The task references also include the FSB Report (type specific) — your type's Flight Standardization Board report can carry go-around training emphases that the examiner is entitled to probe.

Power, attitude, configuration — in that order (AFH ch. 9). The instant you decide, apply full or maximum allowable takeoff power smoothly and without hesitation; a settling airplane has inertia, and sufficient power is what stops the descent.

What changes in a jet: engine response at low rpm is slower, and there's no propeller slipstream to give instant lift at constant airspeed (AFH ch. 16) — so the power decision must come earlier, and the stabilized approach exists partly to keep the engines spooled so power is available quickly.

The ±5-knot climb speed and positive rate (AA.III.J.S3) are the graded output of getting the order right.

AFH ch. 9's list, which the ACS mirrors, plus the ACS's own addition:

• ATC requirements
• Unexpected hazards on the runway
• Overtaking another airplane
• Wind shear
• Wake turbulence
• Mechanical failure
• An unstable approach
• Inability to comply with a LAHSO clearance (the ACS's own addition)

The framing matters as much as the list: a go-around is a normal maneuver, to be practiced and perfected like any other. The assumption that an aborted landing means a botched approach "is a fallacy" — the ATP-level answer treats the go-around as a planned outcome, briefed before every landing (ACS Appendix 3 briefing items include go-around/rejected landing procedures).

AFH ch. 9 names the two sources:

1. Landing expectancy, or set — the anticipatory belief that conditions are not as threatening as they are and the approach will surely end in a safe landing
2. Pride — the mistaken belief that going around is an admission of failure

The maneuver is not inherently dangerous; it becomes dangerous only when delayed unduly or executed improperly, and the most critical go-around is the one started closest to the ground. That is precisely why the ATP test initiates it at 50 feet over the threshold — the examiner wants to see the decision made and flown at the worst point.

After power is in and the climb attitude established:

• Flaps first, partially — retract landing flaps to the takeoff position (or per the manufacturer), in increments if altitude and airspeed demand, because sudden full retraction can cost enough lift to settle the airplane onto the ground
• Gear after a positive rate of climb is established — and note the AFH's reasoning: full flaps usually make more drag than the gear, and if the airplane touches down during the go-around you want the gear down and locked
• Trim — the airplane was trimmed for approach speed; the sudden addition of power pitches the nose up, so anticipate considerable forward pressure, rough-trim once climbing, fine-trim when stable

(AFH ch. 9.) The pitch-up-with-power trap is the same out-of-trim mechanism developed in Task V.A's stall prevention material — at 50 feet it is unforgiving.

They are the certification guarantees behind the go-around (AFH ch. 16):

• Approach climb — the speed that guarantees adequate go-around performance with an inoperative engine (flown from the approach configuration)
• Landing climb — the speed that guarantees the descent can be arrested and a go-around made from the final stages of landing, in full landing configuration, with maximum takeoff power on all engines

When AA.III.J.S3 says "the appropriate airspeed/V-speed, ±5 knots," these — as scheduled in your AFM for weight and configuration — are what "appropriate" means. Density altitude and wind (AA.III.J.K2) shrink the real margins those guarantees describe, which is one more reason the decision must be timely rather than late-and-low.

Obligation: accepting "cleared to land, hold short" bound you to either exit before the intersecting runway or stop at the holding position — and to advise ATC if you cannot comply (PHAK ch. 14).

The rejected landing after acceptance is exactly why you must know the landing distance available and the LAHSO markings before accepting, and why the ACS folds "managing a go-around/rejected landing after accepting a LAHSO clearance" into this Task's risks: your climb-out now happens in the geometry of intersecting-runway traffic.

What you do:

• Fly the go-around
• Comply with ATC or the briefed procedure for the ground track (AA.III.J.S6)
• Communicate immediately (AA.III.J.S5)

The best mitigation was upstream — do not accept a LAHSO clearance your performance or the conditions make doubtful.

No — on two grounds (AFH ch. 9):

• Wheel contact with the runway is not required — the ACS says so explicitly (Appendix 3), so touching down doesn't bust the maneuver
• During an extremely low go-around the airplane may settle onto the runway and bounce — that "is not particularly dangerous" if you keep the airplane straight and hold a constant, safe pitch attitude; with power applied, the airplane reaches flying speed quickly, and the advanced power cushions any secondary touchdown

What would bust the maneuver is chasing the bounce with pitch, or freezing the configuration sequence.

It is made at the trigger, not after confirmation bias has run its course. Task III.B fixes the trigger objectively: go around when the approach cannot be completed within the Task tolerances — stabilized, ±5 knots, touchdown inside −250/+500 feet of the aiming point — or for any other unsafe condition (AA.III.B.S14), with the AFH's stabilized-approach evaluation at 500 feet as the standing gate (AFH ch. 16). By the time you are floating past the touchdown window at 20 feet, "timely" has already expired: the decision points were briefed (ACS Appendix 3), and the examiner is watching whether you honor them under landing expectancy — the pull AFH ch. 9 warns about.

Because an airplane cannot fly below stall speed and cannot climb below minimum power required speed (AFH ch. 9). At the moment of decision the airplane is trimmed nose-up for approach speed and may be decelerating; pitching for a climb before energy exists invites a stall at an altitude with no recovery room — the ACS's low-altitude stall/CFIT risk element (AA.III.J.R6). In some circumstances it is proper to briefly lower the nose to gain airspeed and get off the back side of the power curve. Power first, then attitude for the performance available, then configuration — and on airplanes with heavy control forces at maximum power, keep flying the airplane before reaching for handles (airplane control is the first consideration in this high-workload phase).

The ground track, heading, or course appropriate to the conditions, or as ATC or the evaluator specifies.

Wind correction is part of that track (AA.III.J.K3): the landing crosswind correction doesn't end at the decision — as the climb is established, turn the nose into the wind, bring the wings level, and crab to hold the extended centerline, rechecking the ground track frequently because the crosswind can vary markedly within a few hundred feet of the ground (AFH ch. 6).

Two collision-hazard geometries to name in the oral:

• The aircraft or vehicle on the runway that triggered the reject — offset as your operator's procedure directs while keeping it in sight
• After a LAHSO-related go-around, the intersecting-runway traffic whose protection depended on your hold-short

Radio calls come as appropriate (AA.III.J.S5), but aviate-navigate-communicate ordering holds: the ACS's distraction and task-prioritization risk (AA.III.J.R7) is aimed at crews who talk before they climb.

The Seaplane Handbook (FAA-H-8083-23 ch. 6) lists the water-specific triggers:

• Conflicts with other aircraft, surface vessels, or swimmers in the landing area
• Hazards on the water
• Wind shear
• Wake turbulence
• Water surface conditions
• Mechanical failure
• An unstabilized approach

Climb to a safe altitude while executing the go-around checklist, then evaluate and re-approach under better conditions. The terrain nuance: it's often best to make a gentle climbing turn back over the water to gain altitude rather than climbing out over a shoreline with rising terrain or noise-sensitive areas — the same maneuver-planning that Tasks III.G and III.H demand for confined areas.