Go-Around in Wind Shear
You are flying a twin-engine turboprop on a visual approach to a 1,800 m runway with a 12 kt crosswind and a reported microburst 2 NM from the threshold. At 400 ft AGL, on speed and on glidepath, the airspeed suddenly drops from Vref+5 to Vref-10 and the vertical speed goes from -700 to -1,400 ft/min. You are at 380 ft AGL, gear down, flaps landing. The captain calls "go-around". You apply maximum thrust, but the aircraft is slow to accelerate because you are still in the downdraft.
1. Explain why the go-around must be flown with the pitch attitude and configuration discipline of a windshear escape, not a normal go-around.
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A normal go-around is flown by pitching to a target attitude, retracting flaps on schedule and accelerating. In a microburst you are inside a downdraft with a strong headwind-to-tailwind shear, so the aircraft's energy state is far worse than the airspeed indicator suggests: the performance loss comes from the downdraft and the shear, not from thrust alone.
The escape procedure is therefore: apply maximum thrust immediately, pitch to the windshear escape attitude (typically close to the stick-shaker or a defined pitch target), do not chase the airspeed, do not retract gear or flaps until a positive climb is established, and accept a temporary airspeed below Vref. Pitching down to regain speed would fly you into the ground; retracting flaps would raise the stall speed and reduce lift exactly when you need it. The examiner is testing whether you understand that in a shear the priority is vertical clearance, and that configuration changes wait until you are clear of the shear.
2. At 380 ft AGL with the aircraft slow to accelerate, what are your immediate priorities and what do you tell ATC?
Read the worked answer
Priorities in order: fly the aircraft, preserve climb, then communicate.
- Keep maximum thrust, hold the escape attitude, do not lower the nose to regain Vref, and do not touch gear or flaps.
- Confirm a positive rate of climb on the instruments before any cleanup; if the shear continues, fly the aircraft away from the microburst path rather than trying to rejoin the approach.
- Once climbing and under control, transmit a concise call: "Going around, windshear, request vectors away from the cell." If the situation is critical, prefix with MAYDAY.
A second approach into the same microburst is not acceptable; the correct decision is to divert or hold clear of the cell until it dissipates. The judgement point is that the go-around is not a failed landing attempt but an escape manoeuvre, and ATC communication comes after aircraft control.