Turkish Airlines Go-Around In Mogadishu, Somalia: Fascinating
- Konrad Tillman
- Jun 17
- 2 min read
Intro
Somalia has a very special place in my heart after visiting Mogadishu, so when I was recently in Yemen, I was checking out to see if any of the Yemenia planes were on FlightAware when I saw something peculiar...
What Happened?
Go-arounds are typical on a day-to-day basis, with thousands of flights operating at any single hour on any single day. However, a go-around in Mogadishu, Somalia, is perhaps one of the most obscure go-arounds I have ever seen in my life.
Anyways, Turkish Airlines was operating its 5x weekly flight from Istanbul to Mogadishu, when just before touchdown, it decided to initiate a go-around. What's even stranger is that, looking at the flight map, this wasn't exactly the most straightforward go-around.
I happened to be having my coffee at the Marriott in Aden and was tracking this flight in real time. It seemed to take a very sharp right bank, climb a little bit, make a 270-degree turn, before a 90-degree right-hand turn, and then a 180-degree turn before landing into Mogadishu.
Is There More To This?
Checking this out online, I came across something interesting.
Mogadishu operates a solo runway, consisting of either 5/23. The plane was due to land on runway 5, but then switched to runway 23, even with the data forecasting a runway 5 landing.
Wind: 180° at 10 knots
Visibility: 10 km or more
Clouds: Few clouds at 2,600 feet
Temperature: 32°C
Dew Point: 26°C
Pressure: 1007 hPa
So my question for readers: why might something like this occur? Obviously, with very little traffic in MGQ, combined with the heightened security risks, go-arounds are far less common, hence why I ask.
Final Thoughts
Yeah, it was probably just wind shear. However, the other week, while I was in Yemen, I was tracking a TK flight from Istanbul to Mogadishu, and saw it execute a go-around. Having never seen this in the past in Mogadishu, I wonder if anyone has any insight into what occurred here?
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