The Balloon, the Bounce, and Why Going Around Beats Trying to Save a Landing You've Already Lost

A balloon (the airplane climbing after an over-aggressive flare) and a bounce (springing back into the air after touching down too fast) are both normal parts of landing. The real mistake is almost never the balloon or bounce itself - it’s trying to force a lost landing back onto the runway in the two seconds after. When a landing stops working, the correct answer is almost always to go around: full power, pitch for climb, and come back to try again.

What Causes a Balloon or a Bounce on Landing?

Both happen in the final moments before touchdown, and both are completely normal. Every pilot balloons landings. Every pilot bounces them. It’s not a sign you’re a bad pilot - it’s a sign you’re a pilot.

A balloon happens when you flare too aggressively or too high and the airplane climbs. Suddenly you’re five, ten, or fifteen feet back in the air with airspeed bleeding off and the nose pointed at the sky.

A bounce happens when you carry a touch too much speed and drive the airplane onto the runway before it’s ready to quit flying. The mains - or worse, the nosewheel - hit first, and the airplane springs back into the air. Now you’re airborne again, slow, and probably not tracking where you want to go.

Why Is Trying to “Save” a Bad Landing So Dangerous?

Human instinct is the problem. You balloon, you’re up in the air, and every fiber of your being says push the nose down to get back to the runway. So you push - and you make it worse. You’ve traded a gentle float for a nose-low arrival that plants the nosewheel first, producing a bigger bounce that throws you back into the air, slower than before.

That’s how a balloon becomes a bounce, and a bounce becomes a series of bounces, each bigger than the last. There’s a name for it: porpoising, because the airplane pitches up and down like a dolphin working through the water. Each cycle gets more violent.

Here’s where it ends, and why this isn’t just a busted checkride. A hard enough nose-first arrival can collapse the nose gear or fold the firewall. In a bad porpoise, the third or fourth impact is the one that bends the airplane. People have been hurt and airplanes have been destroyed on perfectly good runways on perfectly nice days - all because a pilot kept trying to save a landing that was already gone.

How Do I Recover From a Balloon?

Your response depends on how bad the balloon is.

For a small balloon (just a little climb), hold what you’ve got. Don’t push. Freeze the pitch or relax the back pressure just slightly, and let the airplane settle. As it descends, smoothly add that back pressure in again to finish the flare. You’re essentially flying a second, gentler roundout from a few feet up. The airplane wants to land - let it come down to the runway. Don’t go get the runway.

If you ballooned because you’re slow (and you probably are), a small squirt of power is your best friend. Just a touch of throttle arrests the sink and softens the settle so you don’t drop the last few feet and slam it on. You’re not going around yet - you’re cushioning. The engine is a tool. Use it.

If the balloon is significant - you’re up ten or fifteen feet, airspeed is falling away, and the controls feel mushy and sinking - that is not a landing to save. That is a go-around. Full power smoothly, pitch for climb attitude, get the airplane flying and climbing away, then clean up flaps per your airplane’s procedure. Try number two is almost always better, because now you know exactly what the wind and airplane are going to do.

How Do I Recover From a Bounced Landing?

The principle is the same as the balloon, with a slightly different feel.

For a small bounce (a little skip), treat it like a small balloon: hold your pitch, add a little power if you need it to cushion, and let it settle back on. Don’t chase it down.

For a hard bounce (a real one where the airplane leaps back up), do not try to save it - go around, every time. After a hard bounce you’re slow, possibly nose-high with the energy gone. Force it back down and you plant the nose and start the porpoise. Once the porpoise starts, going around gets harder with every cycle because you lose energy and control authority each time you hit. The safe decision is the early decision. The moment you feel a hard bounce, your hand should already be moving the throttle forward.

When Should I Go Around? The Simple Rule

Keep this rule living in the back of your head on every approach: When in doubt, go around. When it stops looking like a landing, make it a go-around. And decide early, because early is the only time the decision is easy.

Here’s a mental trick that makes it click. On short final, don’t tell yourself you’re going to land. Tell yourself you’re going to fly down to the runway and see if the airplane wants to land. You’re offering it a landing. If it accepts, great. If it balloons, bounces, drifts, or just doesn’t feel right, you were always planning to maybe go around anyway - so it costs you nothing to take it around. You’ve pre-loaded the decision, and a decision you’ve already made is one you can execute in half a second when it counts.

What Do Examiners Look for on the Go-Around Checkride Task?

Open the FAA Airman Certification Standards (ACS) for the private pilot. There’s a task for the normal approach and landing, and a separate, standalone task for the go-around and rejected landing. The FAA made the go-around its own required task for a reason: knowing when to quit a landing is a certificated skill, equal to the landing itself.

Examiners look for three specific things:

1. A timely decision. Not a hesitant one. A go-around initiated too low, after you’ve already porpoised twice, is a problem. A go-around made cleanly the moment it stopped working is a pass. Earlier is always better.

2. The correct sequence, flown smoothly. Broadly, that’s power, pitch, and configuration. Add power, pitch to arrest the descent and establish the climb, then retract flaps incrementally per your airplane’s procedure. Fly the airplane first, clean it up second. A Cessna 172 and a Piper do this a little differently, and dumping all your flaps at once at low altitude is its own way to ruin your day.

3. Flying the airplane away safely. Control pitch so you don’t balloon right back up, track the centerline, and manage the right-turning tendencies as power comes in. At full power, low airspeed, and high angle of attack, you need a bootful of right rudder to keep it straight. Applicants forget this constantly and wander off centerline while busy with the flaps.

The standards can’t put this in writing, but every good examiner knows it: nobody busts for going around. People bust for trying to force a bad landing onto the runway. A well-timed go-around has salvaged many a checkride.

How Do I Practice Go-Arounds?

The best pilots aren’t the ones with perfect landings - they’re the ones who know the difference between a landing they can save and one they can’t. Here’s how to build that judgment:

• Practice on purpose. Go up with an instructor (or solo if you’re rated and current) on a calm day and fly go-arounds until they’re boring. Fly down to the flare and take it around, again and again. The first time you do a go-around should never be the first time you need one.

• Learn what your airplane feels like right before it lands. Sit in the flare. Learn the sight picture, the sounds, the sink. When you know normal, a balloon or bounce announces itself instantly - and instant recognition buys the early decision.

• Keep your hand on the throttle through the entire landing, every landing, all the way to taxi speed. If your hand is already there, going around costs nothing but the decision.

• Brief yourself out loud on final. Murmur “going around if this doesn’t work.” The decision is far easier when you’ve spoken it into the air five seconds before you needed it.

Key Takeaways

• The balloon and bounce are normal - the danger is trying to save the landing in the two seconds afterward, which can start a porpoise that bends the airplane.
• Small balloons and bounces can be salvaged by holding pitch, being patient, and adding a touch of power to cushion the settle.
• A significant balloon or hard bounce means go around - full power, pitch for climb, clean up flaps, and try again.
• The FAA ACS treats the go-around as a standalone required task. Examiners reward a timely, smoothly sequenced go-around and never fault you for one.
• Pre-load the decision on short final and keep your hand on the throttle so the go-around costs you nothing but the choice.