My 1st Go Around – Northwest Airlines Flight 691 Philadelphia to Minneapolis DC-9-30 17-Mar-2005
Have you ever been on a flight when it gets to the point of reaching near the runway, the pilot suddenly guns the engines and aborts the landing? That’s what we will be discussing here.
I was so excited to get to fly that I was in a rush to take the picture of the plane at the gate. I did not hold the camera still enough to get a good shot of the tail number. That was the DC-9-30 that I would be riding for this Northwest Airlines flight 691.
At the time Northwest was flying older aircraft, and any chance to ride one was welcome to me.
It was not long before we boarded the plane for the flight to Minneapolis. My seat would be in the back near the left engine. The occasion was to meet with some friends on St Patrick’s Day in 2005.
Before long we were on our way but as we got towards our destination, the pilots setup the approach and the plane was yawing to the left and right. It reminded me of the scene in Final Destination regarding the plane crash. I found it kind of strange and it was an unsettling experience in the back of the plane at that moment. Kind of felt my stomach going to my back. It was unusual as in that the plane was not flying straight in for the approach. I was a bit concerned. All of the sudden the pilot applied power to the engines, and the flaps were retracted and we broke off from the approach. It was quite a thrilling experience.
The pilot then came and announced that they had an issue with the avionics. After a few minutes more of flying we were on the ground safe and sound. The 2nd approach was much more stable this time around.
