[josefina stubbs]

I am just landing from the scariest landing in 20 years I have been flying; it was the AA flight No. 1735 from Miami to Kingston. It was raining and the pilot tried twice to touch ground having, in both ocassions to take off again. Only about ten minutes after he took off the first time, he informed the passengers what was happening. He tried for a second time, one more scare. Finally on the third attempt he almost plunged the plane in the runway. Was it that the pilot did not know that whether conditions did not permit to land? Why did he decide to land if the conditions were not adequate? Why did he not land in Montego Bay in or another airport? It is clear that the pilot made a bad judgement; he seemed to try to land before the clouds hit him, but he obviously miscalculated, then he was trapped.

How come American Airlines seem to send unexperienced pilots to Jamaica? Is security of the passengers not a priority for AA? This could have ended up in disater. I just was left to thank god for being alive. Passengers deserve better and more professional AA pilots.

[richvista]

Are you kidding me? being a pilot isnt as easy as you think! It is not the matter of bad judgement! if the aircraft touches, and retakes to the air, the pilot may have thought that there wasnt a sufficient ammount of runway left to stop the aircraft. this is by no means the pilots fault! sometimes weather doesnt permit a smooth landing, so you cannot blame the pilot.

[PHXFlyer]

Had the pilot diverted to an alternate airport we would have heard a complaint about that too!

[richvista]

Exactly! So nothing would have made the situation better. This is not AA's fault at all, and the pilot was not inexperienced, I can guaruntee that. AA has some of the best pilots in the world, usually hired from major universities. This was an act of nature, so you cannot blame the pilot, or AA for trying to keep you safe.

[ChrisH]

Let me explain something, as a pilot.

It is called a missed approach. There is nothing about them that are abnormal, or says the pilot is inexperienced. When flying an instrument approach, each airport, and runway as minimum requirements that must be met, to land. You will not know for sure that those requirements are, or are not met, unless you attempt an approach. If, upon reaching a specific altitude, and or distance from the runway, you cannot see the runway, you are to initiate a go around, and try again. As long as there is enough fuel, you can try all day long. Missed approaches, and the appropriate way to fly them is listed on the approach plates, for that airport, issued by the FAA. This is not dangerous, and this is normal. It may have been scary to you, but there was nothing about it that involved an inexperienced pilot.

Also, wind, is very hard to land in. It sounds to me like the pilot was fighting the wind, among other things.

[jimworcs]

Try not to faint everyone, I am going to side with the airline here. Nobody has a bigger investment in the safe arrival of an aeroplane than the pilot... afterall, it is usually the front end that arrives first. There is nothing inherently unsafe about go arounds, they are routine, but quite busy for the pilots. Their first priority is to fly the plane.. communicating with the passengers in this situation is a low priority and rightly so. I was on a plane which did a go around at London Heathrow when the plane in front burst a tyre. It was certainly dramatic and frightening, but that is not the same as being unsafe. In out case, the pilots were clearly too busy to communicate with us, and the Purser came on and explained the procedure for go arounds. There were gasps and white knuckles, but it was perfectly safe. The pilots did at least tell you what was happening. I think you should instead be posting a note of appreciation for how the pilot worked hard to land you safely at your destination.

[Jetliner]

I'm going to second something Chris said, and that's about the winds. It's very possible that the winds were fluctuating. As the pilot started to touch down, they gusted. Cross winds are nothing to play with.

I've been in a few go arounds myself, and there is one that comes to mind. I was flying into Tampa. It was summer. Summer storms can be bad bad bad, and this was no exception. We came in, touched the runway, and the next thing you know the engines throttle up and around we went. The reason: Another airplane had just landed, and while it should have been clear from the runway, the tower wasn't sure.

Just to give you an idea of how bad it was, there are three bridges over Tampa Bay that you can see when flying into Tampa. You come in from the north, and make a U turn over the bay. Sometimes they go further south than other times, so you might not always go over all three. Anyway, I can very easily tell which is which. But in this case, all I could see was dim lights. I had no idea which bridge we were over.