Week 9 Period: The go-around gate
Deciding to abandon an approach before you are on it, because the moment you need the decision is the worst moment to make it
19 April 2027
Before you arrive#
Bring your week 3 list of restrictions the aircraft would let you break.
In this period#
An approach is a sequence of gates: fixed points at which a specific condition must be met before the approach continues.
- by this point, configured
- by this point, on speed and on centreline
- by this point, visual with the runway
If a condition is not met at its gate, the approach ends and the aircraft goes around.
Gates are easy to accept in a briefing room and hard to apply in the aircraft. At the gate itself, the reasons to continue always look reasonable: the aircraft is nearly configured, the centreline is nearly there, fuel remains. A decision that is usually fine is exactly the decision that trains a pilot to keep making it.
For that reason, gates are decided in advance rather than at the gate itself. Each one is written as a rule before the sortie:
if not X by Y, then go around
At the gate, the pilot checks a condition rather than exercising judgement.
The second half of the period addresses which gate each student is most likely to talk themselves past. Students state this gate to the group before flying, since the decision cannot be revisited once airborne.
Afterwards#
Write the gates in the form above and bring them to week 10. Wren reviews them before signing the flying authorisation.
The spec
What you bring to the session. Written so a reader can tell whether it has been met without asking you.
- you can state every gate on your approach and the condition each one tests
- you can go around from any point on the approach without deliberating first
- you can name the gate you personally are most likely to talk yourself past
Teaching team
- Wren Oyelaran — convenor