Ask The Pilot

[AviatorInsight]

I was travelling into HND last night on VA77 from CNS. We had internet and I was watching FR24 as we approached the airport from the South.

All of a sudden we did a go around veering to the left and doing a clockwise loop with those on the right windows getting a terrific view of Tokyo in the evening. We landed 34 minutes later.

The pilot came over the PA suggested that due to separation/congestion issues our flight drew the short straw.

From what I recall and looking at the track, we had a lot of course changes coming in but otherwise, aircraft were spaced out on the flight path other than maybe we got too close to the one in front near the end.

Is this a common occurrence at HND and looking at the approach is there anything unusual?

The go around was shortly after 10:40 UTC on Jan. 31st.

Nope nothing unusual. They issue your descent clearance well before your nominated top of descent and drag you in well below profile.

You will also hardly be on the arrival and they will vector you instead to achieve the required spacing.

As you get closer they also start issuing speed restrictions. This is a non negotiable for them. You need to be at that speed. Anything faster or slower and they will pick you up on it. Similar to exceeding the 250kt limitation in the US.

My guess is the crew probably didn’t fly close enough to the speed so ATC took you off the approach and brought you around again.