AN M20P PLT; ON AN IFR APCH TO TROY; MI; UNABLE TO LAND; MADE A CIRCLING APCH; LNDG IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

2002-04 · NASA ASRS report 544139

Date: 2002-04 · Aircraft: M-20 K (231) / Encore · Phase: approach

Anomalies: deviation-altitude-excursion-from-assigned-altitude|deviation-track-heading-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|other-plt-too-high-late-to-make-normal-landing

Synopsis

AN M20P PLT; ON AN IFR APCH TO TROY; MI; UNABLE TO LAND; MADE A CIRCLING APCH; LNDG IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

Narrative

WHILE FLYING A STRAIGHT-IN APCH TO MINIMUMS AT AN UNCTLED ARPT; I SAW THE ARPT; DECIDED TO LAND; DSNDED FURTHER; REALIZED I WAS TOO LATE TO MAKE LNDG AS PLANNED; MADE A SPONTANEOUS DECISION TO CIRCLE TO LAND; KEPT THE ARPT IN SIGHT; AND SUCCESSFULLY LANDED ON THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION RWY. ONLY AFTER REVIEW ON THE GND DID I REALIZE THAT MY SPONTANEOUS DECISION TO CIRCLE TO LAND WAS A MISTAKE. I'VE HAD MY INST LICENSE FOR 2 YRS AND HAVE FLOWN REGULARLY AND PRUDENTLY DURING THAT TIME TO BUILD EXPERIENCE. THIS WAS MY FIRST APCH TO HARD MINIMUMS AND IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT; I MADE A SPONTANEOUS DECISION THAT WAS DIFFERENT FROM MY ORIGINAL PLANNED COURSE OF ACTION. ON REFLECTION; I DON'T THINK THAT THERE IS AN EASY WAY TO PREVENT SOMEONE ELSE FROM MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE I MADE EXCEPT TO REMIND PLTS THAT MAKING SPONTANEOUS DECISIONS AT MINIMUM ALTS IS NOT WISE -- IT'S BETTER TO FOLLOW THROUGH WITH ONE'S ORIGINAL PLAN OF ATTACK AND MAKE NEW CHOICES DURING A MISSED APCH OR ANOTHER TIME OF LOWER STRESS.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.