Flew on a real 737 from Tampa to NY KISP yesterday. As we broke out of the low cloud cover, the pilot filed a missed approach. The airport was right beneath us as we broke out of the clouds, & then he went full throttle & began to climb again. He came on the speakers & said that there was a sudden change in the wind which necessitated the missed approach.QUESTION - on the go around, we got the reciprocal end of the original runway. Is it normal to get another runway on a missed approach (or in this case, the opposite end of the original runway)? I thought we would just get the SAME runway and try again until we got the plane configured in a stable manner. Was this normal?Thanks.Chris Catalano

Maybe the suddenly shifting winds caused the airport to change directions on the runway.

Hi Chris,Yes, this is the normal procedure. You mentioned that the pilot came on the speaker and said there was a sudden change in the wind, which necessitated the missed approach. The sudden change in wind was probably the sudden change in wind direction and speed and probably had some gusty winds. For example, if the winds were at 330 @ 20 knots and runway 36 was the original approach, and suddenly the winds shifted to 190 @ 15 knots, the pilot will usually make a missed approach, climb to altitude, and come back for runway 18. I don't know if you had this type of sudden change in wind direction and speed but most jetliners won't land in tailwinds this high. If the approach speed is 140 knots and landing in a tailwind, the ground speed will be 140 + 20 or 160 knots. This would require using more runway because of the higher landing speeds. Ken.

I believe that airlines have certain landing tailwind restrictions. I believe it is 10 knots or so. If the wind did in fact shift to the opposit direction, then the pilots can't land due to that restriction.Brian

Hi Brian,Yes, you're correct. These planes also have crosswind components that will allow pilots to land in crosswinds, up to the maximum crosswind component of the aircraft.Ken.

>Flew on a real 737 from Tampa to NY KISP yesterday. As we>broke out of the low cloud cover, the pilot filed a missed>approach. The airport was right beneath us as we broke out of>the clouds, & then he went full throttle & began to climb>again. He came on the speakers & said that there was a sudden>change in the wind which necessitated the missed approach.>>QUESTION - on the go around, we got the reciprocal end of the>original runway. Is it normal to get another runway on a>missed approach (or in this case, the opposite end of the>original runway)? I thought we would just get the SAME runway>and try again until we got the plane configured in a stable>manner. Was this normal?>>Thanks.>>Chris Catalanovery common. it might have been a 90 degree crosswind that shifted to a tailwind and so ATC and the pilots (including all other airplanes on or about to be on the approach) decided to "turn the airport" which means resequence for the opposite runway. no big deal and very common, as are missed approaches in general... usually for ATC induced seperation issues.