Go-around checklists vary, but virtually all ûcall for partial flaps while the airplane climbs ûabove obstacles.

-by Pat Veillette

In a recent one-year period, go-arounds resulted in 127 accidents. Almost all of these involved a combination of an unstabilized approach, poor aim point and touchdown control, a delayed decision to go around, poor control of the pitch and power, forgetting to place the flaps in the correct position for the climb, failing to recognize that the airspeed had decayed below an acceptable level, and sometimes striking obstacles. The airspeed decayed enough in 7 percent of the go-around accidents that the aircraft entered an unrecoverable stall/spin. …