Ramapriya wrote:
but surely not real-time in an aircraft, Doug? The twice-yearly routine
is in a simulator, I'm sure! And that's what simulators are there for
anyway, isn't it - to hone your aviation knowledge and skills in upset
and abnormal situations?

The simulators are for dealing with the rapid decompression at FL410,
fire in the cargo hold, one engine out on a twin, flying an ILS
down to minimums. A go around is no big deal. Just make sure you
don't gain too much speed before the flaps are retracted.

I asked a friend who flies for UA about this while I was doing
my IFR. During IFR training, you often do multiple missed approaches.
Part 121 carriers (If I know correctly) aren't allowed to do
approaches unless the minimums are met so rarely do they go
missed due to the weather. But my friend said it isn't uncommon
to have go missed because of another a/c on the runway or
say at LAX when the radios for ATC failed. I think this was Socal
approach. For the a/c on the approach but not switched over
to tower, very well probably went missed due to waiting for
socal and then switching to tower too late. Man, I'd hate to
be flying around that basin IFR with the lost comms on Socal.
That must have been fun.

Gerald