Lesson 01 · Free Fundamentals · Approach judgment

Go Around

When the approach isn’t working

Level: Fundamentals
Estimated time: 10 minutes
Access: Free

A stable approach preserves options. The useful skill is recognizing when those options have narrowed enough that continuing is no longer the best decision.

Important. For hobby flight simulation only — not real-world flight or ground instruction, operational guidance, or a flight-planning tool.

CUE is a recreational consumer-simulation product. It is not FAA-approved training, certification preparation, medical advice, an aircraft operating manual, or a substitute for current regulations and guidance, official charts and weather, an approved AFM/POH, aircraft checklists, air traffic control instructions, or instruction from an appropriately qualified professional. Never use CUE to operate, dispatch, maintain, diagnose, or make decisions concerning an actual aircraft. Simulated aircraft, controls, avionics, weather, traffic, navigation data, and procedures may be simplified, incomplete, inaccurate, or obsolete and may differ materially from real equipment and current requirements. Completion confers no certificate, endorsement, currency, proficiency, authorization, or qualification. Real-world aviation can cause serious injury, death, and property loss. Use current authoritative sources and qualified professionals for any actual aviation activity.

Before you make the call

What you will learn

Recognize an unstable combination of speed, path, configuration, and remaining distance.
Commit to a go-around without trying to recover the landing first.
Verify a climb and navigate the correct missed-approach sequence.

Use an aircraft you know in a simulator, with its go-around checklist open before starting. This lesson teaches the decision and the checks that follow it; thrust settings, pitch targets, flap changes, and autopilot behavior must come from that aircraft’s documentation.

Before the approach, identify your target speed, landing configuration, stable-approach criteria, touchdown area, and escape plan. The 500-foot point in this scenario describes where the problem was noticed. It is not a universal permission to keep correcting until 500 feet. Apply the stabilization gate appropriate to the aircraft and operation.

For hobby flight simulation only — not real-world flight or ground instruction, operational guidance, or a flight-planning tool. Use your simulator aircraft’s documentation for settings and procedures.