You are perhaps two hundred feet above the runway, close enough to see the markings, when the engines suddenly spool up to a roar and the aircraft pitches nose-up and climbs away. Overhead lockers rattle. Somewhere behind you a passenger says something loud. For about fifteen seconds nobody in the cabin knows what is happening, and then a calm voice explains that the approach was discontinued and the aircraft will be repositioning for another attempt.
That manoeuvre is a go-around, and almost every pilot reading this will have flown dozens. It is not an emergency, it is not a near miss, and it is not the aircraft struggling. It is a planned, practised procedure that exists precisely so that a landing which is not working can simply be abandoned and tried again.
What triggers a go-around
Every approach is flown against a set of criteria. If any of them are not met by a defined point, the crew is required to discontinue. The decision is often not a judgment call at all but a rule, which is exactly why it happens so smoothly.
- The runway is not clear. The most common cause. An aircraft that landed ahead has not yet vacated, or a vehicle is still on the surface. Controllers will send you around rather than compress the gap.
- The approach is unstable. Airlines define a stabilised approach: on the correct path, at the correct speed, correctly configured, by a set altitude. If the aircraft is high, fast or not yet configured at that gate, the approach is discontinued.
- Weather below minimums. Each approach has a decision altitude. If the crew reaches it without the required visual reference, they must go around. There is no discretion.
- Wind. A gust, a windshear warning, or a crosswind beyond limits at the last moment.
- Spacing and sequencing. Sometimes the traffic pattern simply does not work out, and it is easier to reposition than to squeeze.
A go-around is not a landing that failed. It is a landing that was correctly declined.
The manoeuvre itself is highly standardised: full or climb thrust, pitch to a target attitude, gear and flaps retracted on a schedule, then a published missed approach path that keeps the aircraft clear of terrain and other traffic. It is trained in the simulator constantly.
What happens next
Most go-arounds end with a normal landing ten to fifteen minutes later. The aircraft is vectored back onto the approach, the runway is clear this time or the visibility has lifted, and the flight ends unremarkably.
What makes the second attempt interesting on a tracker is the shape it draws. Instead of a straight final approach you see the aircraft climb, turn, fly a wide circuit and rejoin. On the live map this is unmistakable once you know it, and it is one of the more satisfying things to spot.
Occasionally the second attempt does not work either, and that is when the conversation turns to fuel and to alternates.
Diversions: When the destination stops being an option
Every flight is planned with at least one alternate airport, and carries fuel to reach it plus a reserve on top. This is not contingency thinking bolted on at the end; it is a legal requirement built into the flight plan before the aircraft leaves the gate.
A diversion happens when continuing to the destination stops being the right choice. The reasons are mostly mundane.
| Reason | What is happening | How common |
|---|---|---|
| Weather at destination | Fog, storms or crosswinds below limits, with no sign of improving | The most frequent cause |
| Fuel decision point | Holding has consumed the margin; committing further would eat reserves | Common, and entirely planned for |
| Medical event on board | A passenger needs care sooner than the destination allows | Regular on long sectors |
| Airport closure | Runway inspection, incident, or a curfew the flight will now miss | Occasional |
| Technical indication | A system message the crew prefers to resolve on the ground | Uncommon |
Note what dominates that table: weather and fuel, both of which are anticipated before departure. A diversion is the plan working, not the plan failing. Curfews are a genuine factor too, since an aircraft arriving after a night restriction begins may not be permitted to land at all, which our guide to why flights get delayed touches on.
Did you know?
Crews declare a fuel state to controllers when reserves become a factor, and that declaration gets them priority. It is not an admission of poor planning; it is the formal mechanism by which the system prioritises the aircraft that needs the runway most. The alternative, quietly hoping, is precisely what the procedure exists to prevent.
What a diversion means for your evening
Practically, a diversion is disruptive rather than dangerous. The aircraft lands somewhere you did not book, and what happens next depends on why it diverted. If weather clears and crew duty hours allow, the aircraft refuels and continues, often within a couple of hours. If the crew is out of hours, the flight is finished for the day, and the airline has to move a planeload of people who are now in the wrong city.
Passengers are frequently kept on board during a technical stop, because disembarking into a terminal that was not expecting you creates immigration and handling problems that can take longer than the delay itself. It feels unreasonable at the time and is usually the fastest route to your actual destination.
Your rights follow the same framework as any other disruption: your contract is with the airline that sold the ticket. Overbooking and your rights covers the compensation regimes, and the guide to connections explains how to think about the onward risk.
Key takeaways
- A go-around is a standard, trained procedure, not an emergency.
- The most common trigger is simply a runway that is not yet clear.
- Unstable approach criteria make many go-arounds mandatory rather than discretionary.
- Every flight plans an alternate airport and carries fuel to reach it before departure.
- Weather and fuel decision points cause most diversions, and both are anticipated.
- Crew duty limits, not the aircraft, usually decide whether a diverted flight continues that day.
The third abort: Rejecting a takeoff
Go-arounds and diversions have a less familiar sibling that happens at the other end of the flight. A rejected takeoff is the decision to abandon a departure while still on the runway, and it is the most time-critical abort in commercial aviation.
The whole manoeuvre is organised around a single speed, called V1, calculated before every departure from the aircraft weight, the runway length, the surface condition, the temperature and the wind. Below V1 the aircraft can be stopped in the runway remaining. Above V1 it cannot, and the correct response to most problems becomes continuing the takeoff and dealing with the situation in the air, where there is time.
This is why crews brief it explicitly before every departure. The decision is pre-made: which failures justify a reject, who calls it, and what the other pilot does. The aim is to remove judgment from a moment that offers perhaps two seconds for it.
Above a certain speed, stopping becomes the more dangerous option. So the decision is made before the aircraft ever moves.
A high-speed rejected takeoff is physically dramatic. Maximum braking, spoilers deployed and thrust reversers produce hard deceleration, and the brakes absorb an enormous amount of energy as heat. Crews will often hold position afterwards to let them cool rather than taxiing straight to a gate, and fire crews may attend as a precaution. That precaution is standard procedure, not evidence that anything is burning.
For passengers the useful thing to know is that a reject below V1 is a controlled manoeuvre with a planned stopping distance, and that a crew continuing after a bang or a warning above V1 is following the safer procedure rather than ignoring a problem. Both are the system behaving as designed, which is the same thing our guide to turbulence concludes about a very different alarming sensation.
Frequently asked questions
Is a go-around dangerous?
No. It is a standard procedure trained repeatedly in the simulator and flown routinely in service. In many cases it is mandatory rather than optional, because the approach did not meet defined criteria. Abandoning an approach that is not working is the safe outcome, not the risky one.
What is the most common reason for a go-around?
A runway that is not yet clear, usually because a preceding aircraft has not vacated. Controllers would rather send an aircraft around than compress the spacing, so it happens regularly at busy airports.
Does a diversion mean the aircraft had a problem?
Rarely. Most diversions are caused by weather at the destination or by holding consuming the fuel margin, both of which are planned for before departure. Medical events and airport closures account for most of the rest.
Why do they keep us on the plane after diverting?
Because disembarking at an airport that was not expecting the flight creates immigration, security and ground handling complications that often take longer to resolve than the delay itself. Staying aboard is usually the fastest way to reach your actual destination.
How can I tell a go-around happened on a flight tracker?
Look for the shape. Instead of a straight descent to the runway you will see the aircraft descend, climb away, fly a wide circuit and rejoin the approach. It is one of the most recognisable patterns on a live map.
Both manoeuvres feel dramatic from a passenger seat and look completely routine from the flight deck, and the gap between those two experiences is mostly information. An aircraft climbing away from a runway is not a system in trouble. It is a system doing exactly the thing it was designed to do when the first attempt did not look right.
