Friday, November 06, 2020

Springfield-Branson National Airport (KSGF), Greene County, Missouri



SPRINGFIELD, Missouri (KY3) - A low-flying plane caused concern for some Springfield residents Thursday evening.

That plane, Delta Flight 4942, was on final approach, when the pilot requested a go-around. The plane then circled, returned to the airport, and made a safe landing.

According to the tracking website, FlightAware, the flight made a loop before finally landing.

One of the passengers on that plane posted on a local Facebook scanner page that he thought maybe the plane was landing at the wrong airport. According to an Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson, that is not the case.

The pilot requested a go-around because he was “experiencing an unstable approach and wanted to be cautious.”

I asked for clarification on what made it an unstable approach, and a Delta spokesperson confirmed that the pilot did the go around because he was being cautious.

As the plane made the circle back to the airport, some folks on the ground were a bit concerned.

One said in response to the passenger’s post on Facebook “I live right near downtown airport and that sucker was loud, thought you were going down.”

Another noted “That flight from Atlanta looked like it did a go-around, but nothing on tracking indicates it was near the downtown airport. Go around can be for a variety of reasons.”

And as mentioned, that reason was the pilot requested that go around due to an unstable approach. Neither the Federal Aviation Administration nor Delta Air Lines had a specific reason why the pilot made that decision.

3 comments:

  1. Nothing odd in the go around track. Field elevation is 1260', so the downwind leg at 2800' was 1500' AGL.

    https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL4942/history/20201106/0027Z/KATL/KSGF

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  2. They pretty much trim the trees seven miles south of the airport fairly often.

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  3. Most121 carriers have stabilized approach criteria. The one I work for requires plane to be configured for landing, on vref, in a position to land in touchdown zone using normal maneuvers, engines spooled, at 500 ft AGL or crew should call go around.

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