Go-Arounds happen every day at airports in the United States when aircraft pilots preparing to land are required to abort the first landing attempt. CARDINAL NEWS caught one happening Wednesday night — while an aircraft pilot that had been attempting a landing at O’Hare was preparing for a second landing attempt while circling north of the airport over Arlington Heights.
According to FlightAware (GTI7134) and FlightRadar24.com (data only temporarily available on free site), data indicates that an Atlas Air Boeing 747 freighter jet on approach at O’Hare International Airport at about 10:15 p.m. CDT was involved in a Go-Around Procedure that involved a revised flight track. The revised approach brought the aircraft over the northwest suburbs, including Arlington Heights, at an altitude peaking at 4900 feet … after the aircraft was as low as 875 feet while near or over O’Hare property while the pilot was close to landing.
The jet was recognized in the sky powering up and banking left on an atypical flight pattern over Arlington Heights Wednesday night, September 11, 2024 around 10:20 p.m. Minutes earlier, the aircraft had been on approach to O’Hare over Elk Grove Village and Bensenville near the Elgin-O’Hare Tollway (IL-390)/Thorndale Avenue, with the pilot apparently preparing to land on Runway 9R from west to east, according to FlightRadar24.com.
Atlas Air Flight GTI7134 Wednesday night was a cargo trip from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. Arriving from the northwest, the aircraft’s pilot was planning to slip obliquely in to the west to east approach traffic to Runway 9R from the west side of the airport.
Runway 9R, named because it runs from 270 degrees (west) on the horizon toward 90 degrees (east) on the horizon, is located just north of Terminal 1, Terminal 2, and Terminal 3 and the main parking garage at O’Hare. At about 10:15 p.m. CDT, when the aircraft was in the process of landing, and was as low as 875 feet, the landing was aborted, and the pilot powered up the Boeing 747 to climb and accelerate away from the runway. The Go-Around had begun. After two left turns and a climb to an altitude of 4900 feet at a speed of 223 knots, the Boeing 747 was over the west side of Rolling Green Country Club golf course in Arlington Heights near Forrest Avenue — and aligned with Hawthorne Street at a heading of 270 degrees (due west) at about 10:20 p.m.
Approximately the first half of the Go-Around was a five-minute trip from O’Hare in Chicago to Rolling Green Country Club in Arlington Heights.
Continuing west, the pilot began to descend again at around Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, and turned left again near the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates to get back in line for the landing queue from west to east on the west side of the airport. The pilot made the final left turn, and re-entered the landing queue over the area of the Hanover Park Metra Station near Lake Street, and just west of the Lake Street/IL-390 interchange at about 10:24 p.m. The aircraft’s altitude over Hanover Park was 3,625 feet, according to FlightAware.com.
The Boeing 747 arrived at O’Hare International Airport, and landed at about 10:28 p.m. CDT. The Go-Around flight re-circulation trip only added about 12 to 13 minutes to the flight duration.
Go-Arounds Happen Every Day
According to the San Francisco International Airport official website, most hub airports have multiple go‐arounds on any given day.
The San Francisco International Airport website, explains that a go‐around is a routine flight procedure in which the pilot of an arriving aircraft aborts its landing procedure and returns to the landing queue. The go-around procedure is called for by either a pilot or air traffic controller, to ensure a safe approach and landing.
According to San Francisco International Airport …
Pilots will initiate a go‐around if they find themselves on an unstabilized final approach.
Controllers will initiate go‐arounds due to loss of separation on final approach or miscommunications between pilots and controllers.
A go-around might be necessary if ground vehicles operated by airport operations or contractor personnel encroach on a runway.
According to the San Francisco International Airport website, a go‐around usually only “involves a delay of no more than 10 to 15 minutes.”
According to San Francisco International Airport, a 2018 report indicates that go‐arounds average about 0.3% of arrivals at hub airports nationwide each year and range from 0.2% to 0.6% of arrivals. A hub airport, also known as an airline hub or aviation hub, is a central airport that serves as a major connecting point for an airline’s network.
FAA Hubs Defined …
(O’Hare and San Francisco International are both large hub airports)
Large Hub
Receives 1 percent or more of the annual U.S. commercial enplanements
Medium Hub
Receives 0.25 to 1.0 percent of the annual U.S. commercial enplanements
Small Hub
Receives 0.05 to 0.25 percent of the annual U.S. commercial enplanements
Nonhub
Receives less than 0.05 percent but more than 10,000 of the annual U.S. commercial enplanements
Go-Around Stats
The LeighFisher Team conducted an analysis of SFO flight‐track data for 2015‐2018 to identify go‐arounds and determine factors that correlate to their occurrence. Based on this analysis, go‐arounds were:
1.4 times more likely during busy summer months than fall or early spring months
1.8 to 4.0 times more likely in less frequently used airport configurations than when arriving on the most frequently used arrival runways
1.5 times more likely during periods of peak daily arrival volume than during mid‐afternoons when arrival volume is generally lighter
1.1 times more likely for widebody aircraft than narrowbody or regional jet aircraft
1.2 times more likely for small aircraft (jet, turboprop, propeller) than narrowbody or regional jet aircraft
1.4 times more likely for foreign flagged passenger carriers than U.S. flagged passenger carriers
Classification Schema
Based on the data collected, the LeighFisher Team developed and proposes a classification schema for structuring a database on go‐arounds, which consists of the following six categories (SOURCE: San Francisco International Airport/Information about Go-Arounds).
I. Go‐Around is initiated before the aircraft is established on final approach
II. Go‐Around is initiated after the aircraft is established on final, but is called by the FAA Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) due to aircraft spacing, obstructions on the runway, or to accommodate a preceding arrival or departure as a routine maneuver with no immediate safety consequences
III. Go‐Around initiated by pilot due to failure to establish or maintain a stabilized approach, which is initiated with full situational awareness and standard precautionary judgement with no immediate safety consequences.
IV. Go‐around initiated by pilot or ATCT due to a last‐minute loss of situational awareness or confusion by the pilot or ATCT, which is executed out of routine precautionary judgement with no immediate safety consequences.
V. Go‐around initiated by pilot or ATCT in response to an immediate safety concern as an emergency procedure to avoid a potential incident/accident
VI. Go‐around that is not initiated by either pilot or ATCT, which, if executed, would have averted a loss of aircraft separation, an unstable approach, loss of situational awareness, or an incident/accident
LeighFisher is a global management consulting firm, acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group in 2004 (jacobs.com). According to ManagementConsulted.com (LeighFisher info), LeighFisher has specialized expertise in facility and operational planning, business advisory, management and strategy, environmental and sustainability planning, and government advisory services.
LeighFisher was founded in 1946 in San Francisco, California.
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