Emirates A380 go-around due plane/car/bird on runway
Emirates A380 go-around due plane/car/bird on runwayIt had to happen eventually, but very surprising in the first 6 months of the service – the massive A380 suffering the indignity of a go-around, and not because of the Birmingham wind vagaries!
It happened on the misty, drizzly 10th September 2016. A previous plane had reported a possible bird strike, and a vehicle was checking the runway, with a Dash-8 stationary on the runway and lined up to take off.
Just before the A380 an Icelandair 757 had been ordered to go around because of the runway blockage, and had done so miles before touchdown. I knew the A380 was on approach and I was tuned into the tower radio frequency waiting for it to call in.
When I glanced to the south to my amazement the A380 was just across the fields from the runway still on approach, so I started filming at that point. As you can see from the video it was several seconds later that the A380 called in and was instantly told to go around. For those seconds I could hardly believe what I was seeing, though in hindsight the pilot would at some point have seen the Dash-8 blocking the way (the Dash-8 was at an intermediate runway point, not at the end).
If you want to watch the action in plan view check out FlightRadar24 or similar site at around 11:50 local time (10:50 UTC) on the above date for airport BHX.
