The Go-Around Decision, the Five-Second Window Every Student Has to Own, and the Maneuver That Saves Lives Nobody Practices Enough

The go-around is not a failed landing. It is a successful decision. For student pilots preparing for their private pilot checkride, understanding when and how to execute a go-around - and building the muscle memory to do it without hesitation - is one of the most important skills in all of primary flight training.

Why Go-Arounds Are Underpracticed in Flight Training

Students routinely drill steep turns to the point of automation. Ground reference maneuvers get repeated until every lake and bend in the river looks familiar from pattern altitude. But the go-around, one of the most consequential maneuvers a pilot will ever fly, often gets a handful of deliberate repetitions before the checkride - frequently at altitude, in calm air, without any of the real psychological pressure of an approach that has genuinely deteriorated.

That gap matters. When a go-around is actually needed, the conditions are the opposite of calm. The pilot is behind the airplane, fixated on the pavement, possibly embarrassed that the approach fell apart. Under those conditions, the maneuver cannot be something worked through step by step. It has to be automatic.

The NTSB has documented dozens of accidents where pilots tried to salvage approaches that should have been abandoned. Low and slow over the fence, ballooning on the flare, bouncing hard and trying again without enough runway or airspeed remaining. These accidents cluster in a specific window: the last five to ten seconds before touchdown. That window is where this maneuver lives.

What Is a Stabilized Approach - and Why Does 500 Feet AGL Matter?

The Airman Certification Standards (ACS) for the private pilot certificate are explicit. A stabilized approach requires:

• Correct flight path
• Descent rate that does not require large corrections
• Target airspeed plus or minus 10 knots
• Configuration set for landing
• Trim adjusted to reduce control pressure

All of these elements must be in place by approximately 500 feet above ground level (AGL) on a normal visual approach. That altitude is the gate.

If any one of those criteria is not met when the aircraft passes through 500 feet AGL, the correct action is a go-around - not a correction, not a hesitation. A go-around.

When Should You Execute a Go-Around?

There are three primary triggers.

The unstabilized approach. If the stabilized approach criteria above are not met at 500 feet AGL, the approach is over. Begin the next one.

Runway not clear. Another aircraft, a vehicle, a deer crossing the numbers - if the runway is not clear, the approach does not continue. At a controlled field, the tower will break you off if there is a conflict. At an uncontrolled field, that call belongs entirely to the pilot in command.

A landing gone wrong after touchdown. A bounce, a balloon, or a touchdown that puts the aircraft back into the air with insufficient energy to land cleanly and insufficient runway remaining to roll out safely - all of these are go-around situations.

The third trigger is where students most commonly freeze. Once on the runway, every instinct says to get back down on the pavement. But if a bounce has put the aircraft eight to ten feet in the air, fast enough to float a significant distance before settling, and a third of a 4,000-foot runway is already behind the aircraft - the landing being attempted no longer has safe margins. Go around.

How Do You Fly a Go-Around in a Cessna 172?

The go-around has a specific sequence, and the sequence matters.

1. Full power - immediately. The moment the decision is made, the throttle goes to full. Smooth but decisive, not eased in over several seconds. The nose will want to pitch up and the aircraft will yaw; manage both with control inputs while working through the rest of the sequence.

2. Carburetor heat - off. Carb heat reduces engine output. Once at full power in a go-around, every bit of performance the engine can produce is needed.

3. Flaps - retract in increments. This is where students make a costly mistake. On a Cessna 172 with full flaps, retracting to zero in one motion causes a sudden loss of lift at the worst possible moment - low, slow, with the wings just made less effective. The correct technique: flaps to 10 degrees first, establish a positive climb, let airspeed build, then continue retracting as performance allows. The Cessna 172 Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH) specifies partial flap retraction first for exactly this reason.

4. Pitch attitude - climb, don’t chase airspeed. Pitch for a climb attitude that clears obstacles while airspeed builds toward Vx (best angle of climb) if obstacles are ahead, or Vy (best rate of climb) once clearance exists. Do not pull the nose too high before the airspeed supports it. A high pitch attitude with low airspeed after a bounce or a low-energy go-around is not a climb - it is a stall in progress.

5. Gear (complex aircraft only). Confirm a positive rate of climb on the vertical speed indicator, then gear up. Not before. The call is: positive rate, then gear up.

6. Radio call. At a controlled field, notify the tower immediately - short and clear: “Riverside Tower, Cessna Four Five Bravo, going around.” At an uncontrolled field, announce on the CTAF, state the runway and airport name, and let traffic know the intent.

7. Fly the full pattern. Do not cut the downwind short. Use the extra time to reset mentally and set up the next approach the way it should have been from the start.

The Mental Side of the Go-Around Decision

There is a well-documented tendency among student pilots to become fixated on completing the landing. The closer the runway gets, the harder it becomes psychologically to abandon the approach. The pressure to just put it down and be done grows stronger every second of the final approach.

That pressure is real. Name it, because it will push pilots to stay in situations they should be flying away from.

The antidote is one simple habit: make the go-around decision early. Before 500 feet AGL if the picture is already deteriorating. The moment the approach stops matching the intended picture, ask one question: Is this approach going to result in a safe landing? If the answer is anything other than a clear yes, go around.

The other mental trap is the go-around after a bounce. Many students feel that executing a go-around after a rough touchdown is broadcasting failure. But the trade-off is straightforward: a bounce that becomes a go-around that becomes a clean second approach is a recovery. A bounce that becomes a salvage attempt that runs out of runway is an accident report. One is fixable. The other is not.

How Do You Handle Windshear or Wake Turbulence on Final?

Windshear recognition. Sudden unexpected airspeed loss, an uncommanded nose-down pitch, or a descent rate spike without a change in pitch attitude are potential indicators of windshear in the terminal environment. The response: immediate full power, pitch for a climbing attitude, fly away from the ground. Do not try to diagnose what happened while still descending. The FAA Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK) covers windshear recognition and response in detail.

Wake turbulence. When following a larger aircraft on final and unexpected rolling inputs or turbulence disrupts the approach profile, go around. The FAA recommends a minimum two-minute interval behind a heavy aircraft to allow wake turbulence to dissipate. At an uncontrolled airport, the pilot manages that spacing. When adequate separation is uncertain, the answer is to wait, extend the downwind, or go around and build a longer final on the next pass.

What Does the Examiner Look for on the Checkride?

The ACS evaluates the go-around directly and specifically. The examiner wants to see a proactive decision, not a reactive one. If deliberation is still happening over the approach end of the runway with airspeed below target and the aiming point gone, that is not a timely go-around decision - it is a salvage attempt with no good options remaining.

Specifically, the examiner is looking for:

• Full power applied promptly
• Carburetor heat addressed correctly
• Flap retraction done in sequence, not all at once
• Pitch attitude managed to maintain a positive climb
• Re-entry into the pattern executed professionally
• Correct radio communication
• The next approach set up with the same composure as if the first went exactly as planned

That last item matters more than most students expect. The examiner is watching to see whether the go-around rattles the applicant. It should not. In real flying, go-arounds happen to every pilot - crosswinds shift, traffic appears on the runway, conditions change on short final. The pilots who handle those situations smoothly are the ones who have practiced often enough that the maneuver feels routine rather than urgent.

How to Practice Go-Arounds the Right Way

Before the next lesson, ask for a dedicated go-around session - not one or two reps tacked onto the end of a normal landing block, but a dedicated session where approaches are intentionally set up off-stabilized, the decision is practiced, and the execution is drilled in sequence until it is automatic.

Specific scenarios to include:

• Go-around from full flaps
• Go-around from a simulated bounce - instructor signals a balloon at the flare, pilot makes the call and executes
• The radio call at a towered field, practiced until the words come without thinking
• Saying “going around” out loud before pushing the throttle - those two words, said clearly before acting, reinforce the decision as deliberate and build the habit so that under real pressure, the call precedes the action

Key Takeaways

• 500 feet AGL is the stabilized approach gate. If any element of the approach is outside ACS parameters at that altitude, the go-around should already be happening.
• A go-around after a bounce or balloon is a recovery. A salvage attempt with insufficient runway and airspeed is an accident.
• On a Cessna 172, the go-around sequence is: full power → carb heat off → flaps to 10° first → climb attitude → continue flap retraction as airspeed allows → radio call → full pattern.
• The five-to-ten second window before touchdown is where most approach-related accidents occur. Decisions made before that window open up options; decisions made inside it close them off.
• Make the go-around decision early and often in training. The examiner and the airplane both reward pilots who fly the picture they want, not the one they are stuck with.