Narrative:

During a visual approach; I was the pilot monitoring (pm) and the first officer was the pilot flying (PF). While on a right downwind pattern; ATC asked if we had the airport. I told the first officer to 'call it if he saw it' as I could not see the airport from the left seat. He said he did; in fact; have the airport; and reported this to ATC. We were then cleared for the visual approach.just as he began his right hand; descending turn toward the runway; the angle of the rising sun was such that I was temporarily blinded for about 10 seconds and could not see a thing; inside or outside the aircraft; let alone; the instrument panel. Just as I regained my vision; I noticed we were about 12 knots below 'ref' speed; and called out 'airspeed.' at that very instant; I felt the wings begin to buffet so I then said 'roll wings level; roll wings level' in order to decrease the aircraft's angle of bank.the first officer decreased the angle of bank (aob) sufficiently to stop the buffet and I then told him to 'go around.' the PF then began to execute the go-around; but unbeknownst to me; he had not hit the to/GA button; so I was unaware that the FMS was still in the 'approach mode.' as a result; I was initially having difficulty programming the flight control panel (fcp) to comply with ATC's missed approach instructions. After the PF cycled the flight directors 'off' then 'on;' I was then able to program the fcp accordingly. After 'cleaning the aircraft up' from the go-around; we came back around and made a second; and this time; uneventful visual approach and landing.as far as being blinded by the sun; I'm not sure what I could have done differently. As for the procedural error during the go-around; since we do so few go-arounds on the line and when we do perform the occasional go-around; they are never from the 'canned' spot; fully configured; at the end of an instrument approach; like we have done for years 'in the box.' I suggest spending some time during training doing a variety of go-arounds; from a variety of approach scenarios; in a variety of aircraft configurations.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 First Officer became confused during arrival when cleared for a visual approach after expecting vectors for a straight in approach. The aircraft was positioned on a 45 to the right downwind when the visual approach clearance was received and between the maneuvering required to line up and the sun angle into the cockpit; airspeed was allowed to get very low. The Captain commanded a go around and the second approach was successful.

Narrative: During a visual approach; I was the Pilot Monitoring (PM) and the First Officer was the Pilot Flying (PF). While on a right downwind pattern; ATC asked if we had the airport. I told the FO to 'call it if he saw it' as I could not see the airport from the left seat. He said he did; in fact; have the airport; and reported this to ATC. We were then cleared for the visual approach.Just as he began his right hand; descending turn toward the runway; the angle of the rising sun was such that I was temporarily blinded for about 10 seconds and could not see a thing; inside or outside the aircraft; let alone; the instrument panel. Just as I regained my vision; I noticed we were about 12 knots below 'Ref' speed; and called out 'airspeed.' At that very instant; I felt the wings begin to buffet so I then said 'roll wings level; roll wings level' in order to decrease the aircraft's angle of bank.The FO decreased the Angle Of Bank (AOB) sufficiently to stop the buffet and I then told him to 'go around.' The PF then began to execute the go-around; but unbeknownst to me; he had not hit the TO/GA button; so I was unaware that the FMS was still in the 'approach mode.' As a result; I was initially having difficulty programming the Flight Control Panel (FCP) to comply with ATC's missed approach instructions. After the PF cycled the flight directors 'off' then 'on;' I was then able to program the FCP accordingly. After 'cleaning the aircraft up' from the go-around; we came back around and made a second; and this time; uneventful visual approach and landing.As far as being blinded by the sun; I'm not sure what I could have done differently. As for the procedural error during the go-around; since we do so few go-arounds on the line and when we do perform the occasional go-around; they are never from the 'canned' spot; fully configured; at the end of an instrument approach; like we have done for years 'in the box.' I suggest spending some time during training doing a variety of go-arounds; from a variety of approach scenarios; in a variety of aircraft configurations.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.