A B737 crew on short final to SNA encountered a minor turbulence upset and a simultaneous thrust lever closure with Flaps 40. The First Officer made a small thrust increase to cushion the landing causing the aircraft to float. The Captain ordered a go around.
Synopsis
A B737 crew on short final to SNA encountered a minor turbulence upset and a simultaneous thrust lever closure with Flaps 40. The First Officer made a small thrust increase to cushion the landing causing the aircraft to float. The Captain ordered a go around.
Narrative
Go-around SNA. Aircraft was on speed configured at 1000 FT AGL; approach was stable to about 20 FT AGL when the aircraft made a short and sharp rolling motion; possibly wake turbulence. Simultaneously the aircraft began to retard the throttles. This felt like it was too high to retard for a flaps 40 landing so I overrode the auto throttles and added power causing the aircraft to float as I lowered the nose to put the aircraft on the ground before the end of the touchdown zone. The Captain called for a 'Go Around.' I initiated the go-around per his command as the speed brakes deployed. He caught the speed brakes and missed the 'flaps 15' call. Given the Takeoff Configuration Warning Horn due to speed brake deployment in the cockpit; I may not have said it loud enough for him to hear. At approximately 400 FT AGL I didn't think climb performance was normal so I repeated the go-around procedure steps to make sure I didn't miss anything. I pressed TOGA; this time engaging maximum GA power and called for flaps 15. As I did I noted the flaps were still in the landing configuration so I performed the task myself in the interest of time. ATC gave us a 2000 FT MSL level off; a right hand turn and climb to 3000 FT MSL put us on a right downwind for a normal visual pattern flown to a normal landing.
Second reporter narrative
First Officer was pilot flying during night VMC approach to SNA with Flaps 40. Approach was stable as per policy until after crossing threshold. It then appeared that the aircraft encountered some wind gusts or turbulence (no known traffic immediately preceding) and that touchdown would occur slightly beyond the first 1/3 of the runway. I directed the First Officer to go-around and we returned for second approach and landing.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.