Go-Around Decision Point Calculator

The classic gate: if you're not on the ground in the first third of the runway, go around. It's a fine default for runways comfortably longer than your roll. It fails quietly when the runway is short relative to your corrected roll — on a 2,200-ft strip with a 1,400-ft roll and 400-ft margin, your true gate is 400 ft from the threshold: well inside the first third. This tool computes which case you're in.

Convert the distance to an object during the approach brief: runway lights (200-ft spacing at many fields), an intersection, the windsock, the big '1000 ft' fixed-distance marker on instrument runways. The decision must execute as recognition — 'wheels not down by the windsock = power up' — because at 60 knots you cover 100 ft per second while deliberating.

Enough to absorb your honest scatter: brake condition surprises, the surface being slicker than briefed, a touchdown 5 kt fast. Common practice is 300–500 ft for light singles, more on contaminated surfaces (or simply use the 1.43 landing factor upstream — our complete landing calculator — and let the margin live inside the factored number). Zero is not a margin; it's a confession.

A go-around initiated at your gate — airplane flying, runway ahead, full power available — is among the most rehearsed maneuvers in training. The genuinely dangerous versions are the ones forced later: lifting off from the last quarter with obstacle clearance unbriefed, or braking hard into the weeds. The gate exists to ensure the go-around happens in the easy regime. Past the gate and on the ground, commit to stopping; airborne past the gate, commit to flying. Never trade those two.