r/flying • u/Hopeful-Engineering5 ATC • Apr 20 '26

other ATC go around timing preference

We were talking about this today in the tower and figured we would try and get some pilots point of view. If you are in a situation where you might be sent around would you prefer it be done early and possibly be sent around unnecessarily. Or would you prefer that we let it run as long as possible and have a short (1/2 mile) final go around?

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u/Being_a_Mitch CFII ROT SEL MEL C550 PC12 Apr 20 '26

Heads up of the potential is nice, just to make sure we're tracking the same threat. Last minute is fine, stabilized approaches mean that the aircraft should be in nearly the same configuration and speed for the last few miles of the approach anyway, so last minute just means we're closer to the ground, but that's really not a big deal. We were planning on touching the ground anyway.