AINsight is urging flight instructors to teach go-arounds before students practise landings, arguing that the manoeuvre should be treated as a standard part of primary training rather than a late-stage recovery skill. The AIN Online commentary, updated on 4 September after publication earlier in the week, frames the approach as a safety measure for pilot training and unstable-approach management.
The piece points to the ACS standard, which calls for a prompt go-around whenever an approach cannot be maintained within tolerances or becomes unsafe. It argues that introducing the manoeuvre on day one would make it familiar and routine, while also shaping pilot habits through the law of primacy, which holds that first-learned procedures tend to stick.
Under the approach proposed in the article, students would first be shown the final-approach picture, flown close to the runway and then sent around repeatedly before being taught landings. The commentary presents that sequence as a way to normalise decision-making on unstable approaches and reduce the sense that a go-around is an emergency response.