Every approach should be flown ready to not land. The go-around is not an admission that something went wrong; it is the planned, practised escape that keeps a marginal approach from becoming a bad landing. Knowing the difference between the go-around manoeuvre and the published missed approach procedure, and when each applies, turns a tense moment into a routine one.
This is general educational information, not operational, legal, or regulatory advice. Rules differ by authority and change over time. Always verify against current official sources and follow your operator's approved procedures.
Two words that are not quite the same
The terms are often used loosely, but they mean different things:
- A go-around is the manoeuvre of discontinuing an approach and climbing away. It can be started at any point, on a visual approach, an instrument approach, even in the flare, for any reason: an unstable approach, an obstruction on the runway, wind shear, or a controller's instruction.
- A missed approach is the published procedure flown on an instrument approach from the decision point or the missed approach point, with a specific climb, track and altitude designed to keep you clear of terrain.
So every missed approach involves a go-around, but not every go-around is a missed approach. The FAA Instrument Procedures Handbook and SKYbrary draw the same line.
When you must go around
On an instrument approach the decision is built into the procedure:
- On a precision approach, at the decision altitude (DA/DH), if you do not have the required visual references or the landing is not assured, you go around. You may descend no lower without them.
- On a non-precision approach, you may descend to the minimum descent altitude (MDA) but no lower, and if you are not visual by the missed approach point, you go around.
Beyond the instrument minima, a go-around is the right call any time the approach is not stable or the landing is not safe, and the earlier that judgement is made, the easier the manoeuvre.
The climb that protects you
A missed approach is not a scramble; it is a designed path, built around a climb gradient the aircraft is assumed to make. The gradient is not the same number under the two authorities, and the difference is large enough to matter.
- ICAO. Under ICAO Doc 8168 (PANS-OPS), the obstacle protection of a missed approach assumes a default climb gradient of 2.5 per cent, with a steeper gradient published where terrain or obstacles demand it.
- FAA. The FAA AIM, 5-4-21 states that on a US missed approach "a climb gradient of at least 200 feet per nautical mile is required", unless a higher gradient is published. Two hundred feet in a nautical mile of 6,076 feet is 3.29 per cent.
So the American default is about a third steeper than the ICAO one, and the two are not interchangeable. Carry ICAO's 2.5 per cent into a US missed approach and you may be planning a climb the procedure does not accept; carry the FAA's 200 ft/NM into an ICAO one and you will simply be conservative, which is the safer direction to be wrong but still not the published design. As with the holding speeds, read the gradient from the authority whose chart you are flying, and never assume the other one's figure travels.
Whichever applies, the deal is the same: fly the published track and meet the published gradient and you are protected. That is why you follow the procedure rather than improvise a climb, and why a gradient you cannot make in the conditions of the day is something to know before you start down, not at the missed approach point.
A worked example
You are flying an ILS to minimums. At the decision altitude, you look up: the approach lights are not in sight and the runway environment is lost in the murk. There is no decision left to agonise over, because you made it on the approach chart before you started down.
You apply go-around power and set the climb attitude. With a positive rate of climb confirmed, you clean up in stages, gear and flap as appropriate for your aircraft. You follow the published missed approach, the FAA AIM reminds you to fly the charted track and climb, perhaps straight ahead to a stated altitude and then a turn to a holding fix. And you tell ATC: "Going around," then take the next clearance. Because you briefed it earlier, none of this is improvised.
Common pitfalls
- Decide early. A go-around begun from a stable, well-flown approach is simple; one forced from a salvaged, unstable approach is not. Commit at the first sign it is not working.
- Power and attitude first, configuration second. Arrest the descent and climb away before reconfiguring; confirm a positive rate before raising gear or flap.
- Fly the published miss. The obstacle protection assumes the charted track and gradient; do not invent your own climb out near terrain.
- Do not carry a climb gradient across a border. ICAO's default is 2.5 per cent; the FAA's is at least 200 feet per nautical mile, or 3.29 per cent. Take the figure from the authority whose chart you are flying.
In Pilot EFB
Pilot EFB is a study and planning companion for briefing the approach and its missed approach before you fly, alongside your weather, NOTAMs and the rest of your briefing in one offline-first place. It does not fly the procedure or replace your charts and ATC, so brief and fly the published missed approach from your official source of record. Pilot EFB is not a certified Electronic Flight Bag, so treat it as a study and planning aid and brief from your official source of record.