If flight crew or Air Traffic Control are not completely satisfied that the aircraft is positioned and configured for a safe landing a go-around is initiated. This is a safe and standard aircraft manoeuvre which may be executed at any stage of the approach and simply discontinues an approach to landing to ensure passengers and aircraft are not placed in potentially dangerous situations.
The go-around procedure involves aircraft turning south away from the airport before they are directed by Air Traffic Control back into the sequence for landing. This may mean that aircraft performing a go-around could overfly areas they do not normally do at potentially lower than expected altitudes.
Our Airspace Office reports on the number of go-arounds and the reasons why they occur, you can read these reports here.
You can find out more about go-arounds by watching this short video or by downloading our information pack below:
Go-around video:
Information pack:
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