The Go-Around, the Two-Second Window That Decides It, and the Technique That Breaks Down Exactly When You Need It Most

The go-around is statistically one of the most important maneuvers in the private pilot curriculum - and one of the most frequently avoided. NTSB accident data shows a significant share of general aviation accidents occur in the traffic pattern, within a mile of the runway, during approach and landing. In most of those cases, a go-around was available. The pilot chose not to take it.

What a Go-Around Actually Means

A go-around is not a failed landing. It is a correct decision made by a competent pilot.

The FAA Airman Certification Standards (ACS) for the private pilot are explicit: the examiner is not looking for a perfect landing on every attempt. The go-around and rejected landing task is evaluated on decision-making, technique, and traffic awareness - not on whether you greased the first approach. The moment you treat a go-around as failure, you start doing the wrong math on final. Wrong math on final is where accidents happen.

Why Pilots Press on With Bad Approaches

Three cognitive traps drive the decision to continue when a pilot should go around.

The investment fallacy. After 40 minutes of flying, you’re tired, you’re pointed at the runway, and something in your brain says you can make it work. That instinct is wrong. Sunk cost has no bearing on what the aircraft and runway can actually support.

Social pressure. There are people on the ramp. Your instructor is in the right seat. A controller sounds busy. No pilot wants to look like they couldn’t land. The reality: every experienced pilot watching from the ramp respects the go-around, because they understand what it takes to override the instinct to press on.

The technique is harder than it looks. The go-around demands multiple simultaneous control inputs, under stress, in a low-energy regime, close to the ground. If the muscle memory isn’t built before you need it, the technique falls apart exactly when it matters most.

When to Make the Go-Around Decision

The standard: if you are not stabilized by 500 feet AGL in visual conditions, go around.

Stabilized means all five of the following are true at 500 feet:

• On the correct glidepath
• On centerline
• Configured for landing
• At the correct airspeed
• With a manageable descent rate to the touchdown zone

If any one of those five is wrong at 500 feet, don’t negotiate with the approach.

Below 500 feet, the authority to go around still exists - but the calculation changes. At 200 feet, the question shifts from whether the approach is perfect to whether you have enough runway and energy to stop safely. At 50 feet, in most light aircraft, you are committed to a landing somewhere on or near the runway. The decision window runs roughly from 500 feet down to 100 feet, depending on aircraft and conditions. It closes faster than pilots expect.

How to Execute the Go-Around: Step by Step

Step 1 - Simultaneous: full power and right rudder.

In most training aircraft, going from low-power approach to full throttle introduces torque, P-factor, and left-turning tendencies all at once. The right rudder must arrive with the power, not after it. If the throttle goes in first and then you reach for the rudder, the aircraft will weathervane left before your foot gets there.

Step 2 - Establish the go-around attitude.

In a Cessna 172, that means a positive but not aggressive nose-high attitude. The goal is not an immediate climb - it is stopping the descent first, accelerating to a safe climb speed, then climbing. Pitching up too aggressively with flaps deployed can put the aircraft in a condition where it is not accelerating and is bleeding energy. Be positive, not dramatic.

Step 3 - Carb heat off.

If carb heat was on during the approach (standard procedure in many training aircraft), remove it as full power is applied. Carb heat reduces power output. Going to full power with carb heat on is the wrong order.

Step 4 - Retract flaps in increments.

This is where students most often make a critical error. Do not retract all flaps at once.

In a Cessna 172 with full flaps (40°), retracting immediately to zero removes a significant portion of lift while the aircraft is slow and close to the ground. The aircraft sinks. That is not recoverable at 50 feet.

The correct sequence:

1. Retract from 40° to 20°
2. Allow the aircraft to accelerate
3. Confirm positive rate of climb
4. Retract to 10°, accelerate further
5. Then flaps up

The exact numbers vary by aircraft. Know your specific POH go-around procedure before you need it.

Step 5 - Confirm positive rate, then gear up (retractable aircraft only).

The order is non-negotiable: positive rate of climb confirmed, then gear up. Not simultaneously. Not before.

Step 6 - Communicate.

At a towered airport: advise the tower immediately. “Cessna four five tango, going around.” The controller needs to know - there may be traffic on the runway or on final behind you.

At a non-towered airport: make a position call on CTAF. “Barnwood traffic, Cessna four five tango is going around runway two four, Barnwood.” Other traffic in the pattern hears it and can adjust.

What to Do After the Go-Around

Fly the full traffic pattern. Upwind, crosswind, downwind, base, final. Do not attempt to circle back on a short base. You just went around for a reason - use the full pattern to set up correctly.

More importantly, understand what caused the go-around before you reach short final again. If it was a sloppy crosswind correction, fix it on downwind. If airspeed was high, slow down earlier. If another aircraft was on the runway, confirm they’ve cleared before turning final. Going around and then flying the identical bad approach is not the lesson.

Common Go-Around Mistakes to Avoid

Waiting too long. The decision window closes fast. At 500 feet, the trigger is clear. Below 300 feet and still negotiating with a bad approach, the decision has already been made harder than it needed to be.

Half-power go-arounds. Adding some power to arrest the descent without fully committing is ambivalent control input in a low-energy environment close to the ground. Make the call - full power - or don’t. There is no middle.

Retracting all flaps at once. Reviewed above, but worth repeating: know your aircraft’s specific flap retraction sequence and practice it. One pull to zero in a full-flap configuration at 50 feet is dangerous.

Forgetting to communicate. Especially at towered airports, the controller is managing spacing based on your expected position in the touchdown zone. Tell them you’re going around. It takes two seconds.

Not drilling it before you need it. Practice go-arounds at altitude first, where the consequences of clumsy technique are low. Build the power-in, right-rudder, attitude-hold sequence until it doesn’t require conscious thought. Then practice it in the pattern on days when you didn’t need to go around - just to build the habit. The muscle memory has to exist before the moment arrives.

What the ACS Expects on a Checkride

The Airman Certification Standards evaluate go-around performance on three criteria:

• Initiating the go-around from the appropriate altitude or point
• Applying correct technique
• Demonstrating proper traffic awareness

The examiner is looking for a prompt, confident decision and clean execution - not a perfect first landing.

Key Takeaways

• A go-around is a correct decision, not a failed landing. Treating it as failure corrupts approach decision-making.
• 500 feet AGL is the stabilized approach threshold. If any of the five stabilized criteria are unmet at that altitude, go around.
• Full power and right rudder must be simultaneous. Carb heat off as power goes in.
• Retract flaps in increments, not all at once - loss of lift at low altitude and low speed is not recoverable.
• Fly the full pattern after going around. Understand and correct whatever caused the initial go-around before the next approach.
• Build the muscle memory through deliberate practice before you need it under pressure.