My first go around

[FloridaMan]

Well, I had to go around for the first time in my plane today. I've put around 50 hours on the tach since I took delivery at the beginning of June. I posted a video of the incident on YouTube and hopefully y'all can provide me with some feedback. I'm thinking that I may have been better off in this scenario going in with less than full flaps. 

Link to video: 

The description in the video:

Winds were shifty and gusty. AWOS reported gusty crosswinds. I've pasted the previous and following METAR reports for the airport:

KSPG 211753Z 23013G21KT 10SM FEW023 32/26 A2999 RMK AO2 SLP153 T03170256 10322 20278 53003
KSPG 211653Z 22012G19KT 10SM FEW027 32/26 A2997 RMK AO2 SLP148 T03170261

Tower noted the windsock was straight down 18 and gave me 18. You can see the sock favors the runway, but upon crossing the numbers, you can tell there's a fair amount of crosswind. There are rows of hangars at the other end of the runway, likely creating some wind shear. I ate up a lot of the 2800ft runway bleeding off the gust factor that I was carrying. I think that I also subconsciously tried to get the plane down before it was ready to settle in. Even though the plane seemed to be settling down, on the second bounce I took no chances, put in full power and went around. Tower then gave me 25 and said winds were 250 at 21kts. I've only had the plane for a couple of months and this was my first gusty crosswind experience in it.

[N33GG]

Go around is one of the most important tools in you tool box, and it is sadly not used as often as it should be due to pride, focus on making the landing, delay in decision making, and a host of other bad reasons.  A go around can be the difference between a very bad day, and a very good day.  Don't ever be hesitant to use it, practice it on occasion to stay ready when needed, and give yourself a pat on the back from me.  Well done! (and cool video too!)

[MooneyMitch]

Hi Antares.

Just a brief view of your go around post, appears as though your decent angle was shallow and your approach was flat.

Maybe take a look at AVweb video line below.  Also, don't forget your proper Mooney speeds for approach.

[FloridaMan]

Mitch,

The perspective of the GoPro combined with the short fat runway (18 is 2864x150) may make it look like that pattern was larger than it actually was. The pier that I cross is around 2000 feet from the end of the runway. That pier is my prefered checkpoint to be aligned on final for 18, which gives me enough time to make corrections in airspeed and altitude. I was a little fast and high on the PAPI when I chopped the power the first time and configured myself back inline with the PAPI at 80-85mph. 

From the winds and how I was having to crab to remain on centerline, I added just a touch of power on short final (the PowerFlow exhaust may make it sound like I added a lot of power) to compensate for the configuration change that I was about to make to hold centerline and line up the wheels. Notice the amount of bank I was using at 1:32 vs. the windsock at 1:45 on the go-around; there was clearly wind shear there. For the second approach to 25, I was aligned at 4:43 and landed just over a minute later, putting the final distance at just over one mile. I was low on this coming in from the go-around and did drag the airplane in as it was a tear-drop runway change. 

Also, I elected to give myself enough room, given the nature of the winds, to make my pattern turns at relatively shallow bank angles to give myself some margin to increase my angle if necessary. I didn't want to find myself planning on 30 degree banked turns and blowing through the legs, forcing a go-around or a steeper bank in gusty winds. 

[M016576]

Go arounds are free!  Personally- I don't think instructors teach them enough, or give them the right "shade of light."

You made it 45 more hours than I did before my first go around:  I was landing at Ashland, OR- was my second day of ownership.  I floated a bit further down the runway than I was comfortable with, so I just took her around- NBD.  Have done it for winds as well.  No sense pressing a bad situation just to get it down on the first try.  Nice work recognizing a bad scenario and making the safe call: that's what a good pilot does.

[BorealOne]

It does seem like a shallow approach and even a bit of a 'three-point' landing.

On reflection, most of the 'bad' landings (and a few go-arounds) that I've made have started with a shallow approach. Experience suggests that a steeper angle of approach - even with some extra speed to compensate for gusts - and a more pronounced flare (which has the benefit of bleeding off that extra approach speed all the faster) will give you better results. Don't be afraid to get that nose up more dramatically and work those rudder pedals to keep centreline. The stall horn should be going off in the flare if you are in a proper landing configuration. 

[carusoam]

Antares,

I'd like to congratulate/thank you on a few things...

1) sharing what you did.

2) using facts.

3) including video.

 

Spectacular!

 

I'm not qualified for commenting on your flying technique, but your data collecting/sharing skills are spectacular.

You made me wince and try and control my iPad though!  That's as close to actually flying I have been in a month or so.  Thank you.

I'm sure there will be more qualified responses soon....

Best regards,

-a-

 

I am a big fan of your airport, I visited briefly last spring.  Prior to my arrival, somebody had unceremoniously 'washed' a mooney there.

Think, decide, act.....or go around.  There isn't enough runway left to repeat the cognitive part, at this runway.

[robert7467]

I am traing for my ppl in my mooney, and I have done at least 30 go arounds. I tend to go off of my gut instinct, rather than to try to correct. A go around is the most important thing you can do if something doesn't feel right.

[jetdriven]

I may be insensitive, but your first go-around shold occur during your CFI checkout. Along with cross-controlled stalls,  cranking the gear down, flaps up landings, etc etc etc. 

[robert7467]

Well, my only other option I had was crash. I can't tell myself on a balked landing... Oh shit, I am not a CFI, so I am going to crash, because only CFI's can do go arounds. Jet driven a lot of your advice is great, but I am going to have to say you are wrong on this subject. Pilots.. If your landing is messed up, do a go around~Student Pilot

[jetdriven]

Quote: robert7467

Well, my only other option I had was crash. I can't tell myself on a balked landing... Oh shit, I am not a CFI, so I am going to crash, because only CFI's can do go arounds. Jet driven a lot of your advice is great, but I am going to have to say you are wrong on this subject. Pilots.. If your landing is messed up, do a go around~Student Pilot

[robert7467]

I have absolutely no issue with go arounds. In fact, when I do one, I am happy to know pride isn't getting in the way, and I am safe, and the plane is safe.

[FloridaMan]

I think there's some miscommunication going on between robert and jetdriven here. I think jetdriven's comment was meant for me, and I may have actually done a go around when I did my initial training with Bruce Jaeger -- I specifically remember doing flaps-up ops. My plane has manual gear, so that wasn't necessary, and we did our stalls at 9000 ft with minimal altitude loss ~50ft IIRC. 

I used the bicycle mount for the GoPro and mounted it on that bar where the compass is mounted. I've also filmed flights with it stuck to the rear side window, but the suction cup seemed to distort the "glass" a little. I like that angle better though because it allows me to see and review how I handle the airplane. 

[aviatoreb]

Quote: robert7467

Well, my only other option I had was crash. I can't tell myself on a balked landing... Oh shit, I am not a CFI, so I am going to crash, because only CFI's can do go arounds. Jet driven a lot of your advice is great, but I am going to have to say you are wrong on this subject. Pilots.. If your landing is messed up, do a go around~Student Pilot

[MagicCarpet]

Jetdriven comments on everything.  3100 posts?  Gawd.

[FloridaMan]

Quote: carusoam

...

I am a big fan of your airport, I visited briefly last spring.  Prior to my arrival, somebody had unceremoniously 'washed' a mooney there.

Think, decide, act.....or go around.  There isn't enough runway left to repeat the cognitive part, at this runway.

[carusoam]

Quote: MagicCarpet

Jetdriven comments on everything.  3100 posts?  Gawd.

[mooneygirl]

After watching the video, to me, it seemed your approach was flat and that you didn't hold the nose off and landed on all three wheels.  It can be camera angle or whatever, but it just seemed like both approaches were dragged on.  Personally I am a fan of the go-around. I probably do one or two a year in the 150 hours or so I fly.  I can only speak for myself, but I had to learn about the sight picture and speeds in my Mooney.  I think I had 100 hours when I purchased it [750 now].  Don Kaye did an excellent DVD on landing technique and it is a good use of $20. 

There isn't a person on this board that hasn't biffed it in a few times when he/she should have gone 'round.  Thanks for sharing.

[gsengle]

Quote: Antares

Well, I had to go around for the first time in my plane today. I've put around 50 hours on the tach since I took delivery at the beginning of June. I posted a video of the incident on YouTube and hopefully y'all can provide me with some feedback. I'm thinking that I may have been better off in this scenario going in with less than full flaps. 

Link to video: 

The description in the video:

[rob]

Quote: robert7467

Well, my only other option I had was crash. I can't tell myself on a balked landing... Oh shit, I am not a CFI, so I am going to crash, because only CFI's can do go arounds. Jet driven a lot of your advice is great, but I am going to have to say you are wrong on this subject. Pilots.. If your landing is messed up, do a go around~Student Pilot

[FloridaMan]

"An approach to an abnormally narrow or unusually long runway may produce the visual illusion of an approach which is too high whereas an approach to an unusually wide or short runway may produce the visual illusion of an approach which is too low. "

http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Runway_Visual_Perspective

You can clearly see the PAPI is white/white and it's a 2864x150 ft runway. I make my share of mistakes, but the evaluation that the approach was flat is not correct. That first landing was also not a 3-pointer; the second one I carried less flaps and I didn't compensate with backpressure in the flare and could have done a better job keeping the nose off. 

Winds were in and out coming in. Anyone that lands at these airports right on the water knows that things can get shifty when you get into ground effect. There was a thread about that particular runway on this site here:

http://www.mooneyspace.com/index.cfm?mainaction=posts&forumid=1&threadid=2486 

 

[rob]

Agreed, I don't think the initial approach is flat. The runway dimensions are awkward, for sure.

[DaV8or]

All this talk about flat approaches and dragging it in, but what does that have to do with the actual landing? You can do a flat approach and as long as your airspeed is correct, the landing will be just fine. AFAIK, a flat approach is not a reason to go around.

[MooneyMitch]

If you haven't watched Paul's video, it is both humorous [and as someone previously mentioned, check out his eapulettes as the video progresses] and educational.

Here it is again:

[mooneygirl]

If you don't want advice, I suppose you shouldn't ask for it from a board of opionionated Mooney owners!