Know when to go around because of traffic on approach, including preceding aircraft, occupied runways, short-final conflicts and ATC clearance.
Go around because of traffic whenever ATC instructs you, required separation or runway availability is doubtful, wake turbulence is unacceptable, or avoiding another aircraft would destabilise the approach. If you spot an aeroplane halfway down the runway on short final, do not gamble on it clearing: go around unless authorised separation is unquestionably assured.
In our Aviation & Real-World Flying guidance, the pilot in command remains responsible for deciding whether landing is safe. A landing clearance does not remove that responsibility, and the same judgement is good discipline when flying a simulator.
When does traffic make a go-around necessary?
Traffic makes a go-around necessary when continuing would breach an ATC instruction, leave inadequate separation or wake clearance, create a collision risk, or force an unstable approach.
| Traffic situation | Correct decision |
|---|---|
| ATC instructs you to go around or cancels the landing clearance | Begin the go-around promptly. Fly the aircraft first, then acknowledge when workload permits. |
| An aircraft, vehicle or obstruction may still conflict with your landing | Go around unless the required runway separation is assured under a valid local procedure. |
| Another aircraft turns inside you, crosses final or approaches in the opposite direction | Discontinue the approach and remain clear of its path. A normal straight-ahead go-around may need modifying if immediate collision avoidance requires it. |
| Preceding traffic leaves doubtful spacing or unacceptable wake turbulence | Request more spacing before short final. Go around if the problem remains unresolved. |
| Maintaining the sequence requires extreme slowing, S-turns, a steep turn or rushed configuration changes | Go around as soon as the approach no longer meets the aircraft or operator’s stabilised-approach criteria. |
| Traffic remains on a separate parallel runway | Continue if it remains contained, your runway is available and no ATC instruction, collision warning or wake concern says otherwise. |
| A traffic advisory appears without a confirmed conflict | Identify and monitor the traffic; an advisory alone does not automatically require a go-around. Follow any TCAS or ACAS resolution advisory using the approved response. |
There is no single worldwide minimum distance that answers every case. Aircraft category, wake turbulence, runway occupancy, radar service, parallel-runway geometry and national rules all affect the required spacing; our explanation of how separation on final approach is determined covers those variables.
Do not rush the landing because an aircraft behind is close. Maintain a stable speed and tell ATC if necessary; an uncoordinated go-around made solely to escape following traffic could put both aircraft into the same climb path.
Can an aircraft continue the approach awaiting runway clearance behind preceding traffic?
Yes, an aircraft may continue flight on the approach while awaiting runway clearance, provided ATC permits it and continuing remains safe—but it may not land without the clearance required at that aerodrome.
Instructions such as “continue approach” or sequencing information such as “number two, follow the landing traffic” are not landing clearances. ATC may expect preceding traffic to vacate or reach the prescribed separation point before your arrival, so receiving the actual clearance late is not automatically abnormal.
There is no universal altitude by which every flight must receive landing clearance. Follow the applicable authority, operator and aircraft procedures, and begin the go-around early enough to avoid touching down without clearance. If the frequency is blocked, the controller stays silent or preceding traffic does not clear as expected, do not press on merely because you have reached short final.
Some airports use specifically authorised same-runway, reduced-separation or “land after” procedures. Their wording and conditions are local; never infer such authority from an ordinary instruction to continue.
When landing, you spot another aeroplane halfway down the runway. How should you proceed?
If another aeroplane is halfway down the runway on short final, go around when its timely exit or the required separation is uncertain.
An occupied runway does not make every continued approach illegal. At some controlled airports, a valid landing clearance may be issued while preceding traffic is still moving because local rules require separation to exist by a prescribed point rather than requiring the runway to be completely empty when the clearance is spoken.
What you must not do is make a visual guess that the aircraft will take the next exit. If it slows, misses the turn-off or stops, the available runway can disappear in seconds. At a non-towered aerodrome, where no controller is providing runway separation, the safe response to an unresolved runway conflict is to go around, announce your intentions where applicable and keep the traffic in sight when practical.
Instrument minima do not override runway occupancy. Reaching decision altitude with the required visual references may allow the approach to continue, but it does not authorise landing through traffic or without the required clearance.
What should you do if traffic appears on short final approach?
If traffic appears on short final approach and safe separation is no longer assured, make the go-around decision promptly rather than trying to squeeze past or behind it.
- Apply the approved go-around power and attitude. Control yaw, pitch and airspeed using the procedure for that aircraft.
- Establish a safe climb. Do not become distracted by radios, the flight-management system or the traffic display while the aircraft is close to the ground.
- Protect the flight path. Follow any TCAS or ACAS resolution advisory first. Otherwise follow the cleared or published track and ATC avoidance instructions while keeping conflicting traffic in sight where practical.
- Retract configuration in sequence. Change flap and landing-gear settings only as the aircraft procedure directs; cleaning up all at once can destroy climb performance or cause an airspeed loss.
- Report the go-around. Tell ATC or circuit traffic the reason once the aircraft is under control, then obtain or confirm the next clearance.
Aircraft handling varies considerably, so use the correct checklist and our practical simulator go-around and missed-approach sequence rather than applying one generic flap schedule to every type.
If the wheels have already touched, the decision becomes a balked or rejected landing governed by the aircraft’s approved procedure. Do not assume an ordinary airborne go-around remains available after reverse thrust or reverse pitch has been selected; many aircraft procedures require the landing roll to be completed from that point.
After going around, do you fly the ATC circuit or the missed approach?
Fly the route appropriate to the operation: the instructed ATC circuit for VFR flight, or the cleared or published missed approach for IFR flight unless collision avoidance requires an immediate deviation.
- Controlled VFR circuit: follow the tower’s heading, altitude and circuit instructions. Do not turn crosswind early into other circuit traffic.
- Non-towered circuit: follow the published circuit direction and local procedure while maintaining visual separation. Good circuit spacing can prevent the conflict before final; see our guide to sequencing and spacing traffic in the circuit.
- Instrument approach: comply with ATC or the applicable missed-approach procedure. An early go-around does not normally authorise an improvised early turn, because obstacle protection and other traffic may depend on the published track.
If a resolution advisory or immediate collision threat takes you away from the expected route, deal with that conflict first, advise ATC as soon as practical and then obtain instructions for rejoining or resequencing.
How should traffic go-arounds be handled in a flight simulator?
In a flight simulator, use the same go-around threshold even when built-in ATC, AI traffic or multiplayer synchronisation creates an unrealistic conflict.
- Treat AI traffic remaining on the runway as an obstacle, regardless of an unchanged landing clearance.
- If simulator ATC withholds clearance because of traffic, you may continue the approach while it remains safe, but go around before touchdown if clearance never arrives.
- Do not rely on AI traffic disappearing, accelerating unrealistically or taking a particular runway exit.
- Assume multiplayer pilots may have a different traffic picture, delayed position updates or no access to the same radio calls.
- Do not force the landing to preserve a scenario score or avoid another circuit. A planned go-around is part of the exercise, not a failed landing.
A mistake we repeatedly see in simulator approaches is obeying broken sequencing logic after the visual situation has become unsafe. Our guide to AI traffic sequencing and simulator ATC go-around behaviour explains why these late conflicts occur and how to manage them.