For those on that flight that got upset, the crew has 2 choices. This crew followed the rules: no clear view of the runway at DH (decision height which would be 200 feet AGL), then you go around. There are some brave pilots that did not follow the rules and have taken passengers and themselves to Heaven at a high rate of speed.

to hear those beautiful CFM engines roar back to back is symphony for me :)

This is the most beautiful go around video on youtube..

The pilots must’ve loved the CFM roar so they went around twice :)

Great video! Our San Diego marine layer( fog ) can get crazy thick. Glad you made it somewhere safe. Respect to the camera owner for holding it still. 😊

great job by the pilots, safety always has to come first regardless of any inconveniences

Had the exact same happen to me about 25 years ago. Flew from London > Wash DC > San Diego. We hit heavy storms and severe turbulence as I’d never encountered before or since coming into SAN. We tried to land twice coming in from the west and couldn’t do it. At one point I thought we were goners, it was terrifying. We couldn’t see a thing but yes, items shifted in flight and overhead bins popped open, stuff fell in the galley, carts rolled. Luckily just small injuries. Someone’s camera fell on my head after one bad bounce. Eventually we were diverted to Ontario. Same situation - didn’t know if we had a gate, the fuel, etc., so we parked on the tarmac for a long time. First question everyone had: “Are the dogs ok?” (2 large dogs had been loaded in cargo in DC). They were. But people were badly shaken up. My boss and I were on that flight, we both worked in aerospace and so went up to talk to the pilots while we waited forever (of course, this was pre-9/11). Essentially they relied on autopilot a lot because of the turbulence. But they got us down safely. AND flew us back to SAN! They ran a movie all the way down, through landing and into the gate to calm people down cuz was still bumpy! We got into SAN well after midnight. Felt like I’d been on a plane for days. Never was so glad to see my own bed that night!

Fantastic and very informative! I listened on a scanner to a United Airlines pilot do at least two go-arounds trying to land at Guatemala City and then eventually divert toward San Salvador. Yes, good job holding the camera still.

The roar and the cloud lit up by the city, perfect! 😎

Great video with a rare runway 9 approach and not one but two go arounds at SAN. Nice view of the city under the marine layer at night before finally diverting to ONT. nice job 👍🏻

Grew up in San Diego. And out of all my years of flying in and out of Linbergh Field I only landed on runway 9 a few times. And only experienced maybe 2 go arounds at minimums and 0 diversions. That was a pretty rare experience you had there. But that turned into a long flight Newark to San Diego to Ontario.

Those CFM's sounded beautiful.

SAN has always been a challenge to dispatch and fly into due a combination of the terrain and obstructions, both of which result in the poor approach minimums to runway 27 and to a lesser extent to runway 09. Runway 27 is used for arrivals most of the time, but there is no ILS approach to that runway due to the terrain. The LOCalizer approach has a MDA (not DH) of about 700-2, and when the marine stratus commonly rolls in, one usually has the reported surface visibility for 27, but with a ceiling below 700 feet, the descending aircraft never sees the runway and goes missed. The CAT-I ILS to 09 (no CAT-II or CAT-III available) is better, with minimums 300-3/4 RVR 4000, but it’s a far cry from the various CAT-I mins at LAX (200-1/2 RVR 2400, and the RVR can go lower if the particular airline has it authorized in its Ops Specs.) Complicating SAN matters further is that airport can be below landing mins for 27 about above mins for 09. Takeoff performance weights are lower for 09 due heading for the rising terrain, so a common practice by ATC in such situations is to put arrival traffic for 09 into holding (even though 09 is above landing mins) and use the time to flush the airport of departures, since 27 has better weights. Then they’ll freeze departures on 27, and land arrivals on 09, as long as it’s above landing mins. This situation can repeat as long as there’s still traffic, and the weather cooperates. There was some talk years ago about making Miramar MCAS (NKX) a joint-use base and moving all Lindbergh traffic over there, and redevelop the former SAN site into marina/condo use. For various reasons, it never happened, and it’s a shame, since would have been better operationally. Parallel runways, 24R at 12,000 feet in length, CAT-I mins of 200-1/2. Install RVR equipment, some better approach lighting and upgrade the ILS to CAT-II and CAT-III, and then you’d have a true all-weather airport.

That roar! Great vid.

Thanks for this great video!

Lived in SD 33 years and never landed on runway 9. That inversion layer, causes many planes to divert to Ontario or Phoenix. Not all airlines, like SWA are equipped w/the avionics to land in poor visibility. Seen quite a few aborted landings but not 2 from the same plane. Super video.

Great video! Not unusual weather for SoCal airports near the water. Pilots did a great job - especially since they were doing a low energy/high drag go around from minimums which are just 200' and RVR 1800' on the ILS 9 Z approach. Agree with commenters that other aircraft could have made it in if they were equipped and qualified to use lower minimums. Ontario is a pretty common alternate for San Diego, Van Nuys, and Burbank.

Spooky stuff! Great video. Thanks for posting.

Double go roun is rare! Subscribed

Superb video

City looked absolutely stunning

Epic video, that was amazing

7:40 The city at night is so colorful and beautiful. Liked and Subbed done.

SAN actually (Now) has two ILS approaches to RWY 09, the ILS-Z and the ILS-Y. The ILS-Z has better minimums (200-1/2mi RVR1800) but entails having a minimum climb gradient in the event of a missed approach. If one can't meet that climb gradient, the minimums for the ILS-Y are 300-3/4mi RVR 4000. If you can't manage the ILS-Y approach due to the weather, you're likely diverting somewhere like ONT, LAS, PHX, or LAX (the latter assuming they're also not fogged in). In 30+ of dispatching flights to SAN, if I had a buck for everyone I've diverted somewhere, I'd be rich! ;)

Interesting situation! Cool video

Awesome shots! May I feature these go arounds in one of my next episodes? Of course with a link back to your original video. Cheers!

Dam...that sucks that U got diverted to Ontario. For the Record Ontario is in the Inland Empire which is not part of Los Angeles County. Nice Video. Thanks for Sharing. 😎✌️

I flew on a British Airways 747 from New Delhi to London in 2013. We had to do 4 go arounds due to how bad the weather was. After the fourth attempt, the pilots told us that we were diverting to another airport. We landed at Dublin and I will never forget that crazy day.

Better safe than sorry. Good going United pilots.

Used to live in San Diego. I was once on a United flight that took of towards inland (runway 9). It was in bad weather and I didn't get the sensation that we were climbing quickly. But we made it to Denver.

Damn great video

Ontario? No wonder they tried twice.

Incredible!

I was honestly surprised that they attempted that a 2nd time. From the looks of the first attempt, looks like the fog had just beatin y'all there.

As an aircraft dispatcher (now retired) I always found SAN ops during "fog season" to be among the most challenging and problematic. First, fuel load calculations are made in advance of departure from XYZ, thus making fuel and alternate selection heavily reliant on the TAF for SAN, which was commonly proven inaccurate by the time of actual flight arrival into the SAN terminal area. Monitoring the trend of satellite airports in the area like NKX, CRQ, SDM, MYF, SEE, and most of all, NZY and NRS, was imperative. Depending upon what the winds/baro pressures were at any airport(s) that were "upwind" of SAN, the arrival of cigs/viz going below at SAN itself was often predictable (but not always.) Another issue was the disparate landing mins between the LOC to 27 and the ILS to 09. At the time, I recall the LOC 27 was 600-1-3/4, and ILS 09 was 355-1 RVR 5000, which was nowhere near the "normal" Cat-I ILS mins of 200-1/2 RVR RVR 1800 or RVR 2400. Complicating the scenario further was the fact that one could below 27 mins, ABOVE 09 mins, but encounter arrival holding for 09. Why? At the time. takeoff weights off runway 09 were much lower than those of 27, fue to 09's takeoff path towards rising terrain and obstacles. SAN ATC's solution would be to shutoff arrivals to 09 while they flushed out departures that needed 27. Then they'd stop 27 departures (until a que built up) and run arrivals to 09 (as long as it was still above landing mins. I've been retired for going on 5 years now, and I still miss the challenges.. ;)

Lived in SD 22 yrs and landed on Rwy 9 tonight for the 1st time. Weird coming in over Pt Loma.

Great vid

loved the max reversie thrust

Amazing video! what camera & lens did you use?

Rare that no announcements made by the flight crew. Or perhaps just edited in the video. Ontario seems a strange diversion, but then again, perhaps that was the best option.

So what happens with the passengers? Do they have to all rent cars & drive 2hrs to SD? How does that work?

On the go!

Long live united airlines!

What was causing that whirring sound as the plane initiated the go-around?

Magnificent!

What happens to the passengers when a flight gets diverted? I’ve been wondering about this for ages. Do they bus you back to your intended destination, or give you accommodation and get you on the next available flight back when the weather conditions are more favourable?

GreatJob

nice video and wow a double missed approach!! How long were you on the ground in ONT?

pretty!

Back in 2009, I was on a double go around from Phoenix and like you, we also diverted to Ontario.

The odds of being on a flight with a double go-around are roughly 1 in 10,000. Lucky you.

No CAT III equipment on this airport/aircraft?

😕excuse me,why do planes roar when landing?

Does the airport not have facilities for CAT IIIB?I would of thought that would be the obvious choice for a second attempt if they lost of sight of the RWY at DH on the first.

Does San Diego have Cat II or Cat II capabilities?

I rather be there late than dead. Good job by the pilots.

no announcement from the pilot?

Going once Going twice Sold to pilots for double go around

Why did he say welcome to ONT, if this is supposed to be SAN?

Must have made two go arounds and the third time got diverted to another airport?

safe landing at alt better than no landing

why ontario of all places to divert?

Wrong! The second approach is not San Diego.

If you don't land on the 3rd attempt, it's mandatory to divert to another airport.

wow what a f**ked up weather conditions

Turn on the fog lights...LOL

Looks like xp11

That ceiling seems to be like 200 ft agl damn

A part wants to believe they have a legitimate reason to go around, another part of me wants to believe they did it on purpose

Since when do Pilots land on runway 9 at KSAN?

Yeah, Ontario - sure didn't look like San Diego.

Looks like a FS.

LOL@the one loser who started to clap and no one else did.

No ILS SAN

Oh wow! aborted landing :/

What I don't understand is why they automatically think, oh we lost the runway lets go around, there's a reason they fly an ILS approach, and minimums go all the way down to 250ft on runway 9. I had a flight cancelled because of this bullshit.