The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), citing a serious incident involving a Boeing 737-800’s erratic go-around flight path, is cautioning pilots – especially those whose flight time was reduced by the COVID-19 pandemic – about the risk of errors during go-arounds from intermediate altitudes.
In the Sept. 11 incident, which is still under investigation, the 737 began a go-around at an altitude of 2,250 ft above mean sea level (amsl) at Aberdeen Airport in Scotland.
“[T]he aircraft initially climbed, but just before it reached the cleared altitude of 3,000 ft amsl, it began to descend,” the AAIB said in a special bulletin discussing the issue. “It descended to 1,780 ft amsl (1,565 ft agl [above ground level]) with a peak rate of descent of 3,100 [fpm], and it accelerated to an airspeed of 286 kt (the selected airspeed was 200 kt) before the crew corrected the flight path.”
The special bulletin said that the pilots, “like many other pi…
