Narrative:

While on final approach at dtw for runway 21L; we were handed off to tower by approach control. As the pilot monitoring; I made the initial call to dtw tower and informed them that we were on approximately a 5 mile final for a visual approach to runway 21L. We received no response. The controller issued landing clearance to a crj ahead of us on the approach for the same runway. The controller continued then to issue takeoff clearances to aircraft waiting at runway 21R. He issued departure instructions and hand-offs to departure control to various departing aircraft for 21R. I asked again for landing clearance and received no response. He issued taxi instructions for the crj that arrived ahead of us on runway 21L. I asked a third time for landing clearance and received no response. At this point; I confirmed with my first officer and jump seat observer whether or not we had received a landing clearance. Neither of them had heard a landing clearance so we quickly reviewed our required actions for a go around maneuver. At 500 ft AGL; I made a forceful radio communication; 'tower! Aircraft X! We need a landing clearance!' no response from tower. At 200 ft; I called for the go around. Just as we were retracting the gear from the go around; tower makes their first call to us; asking why we initiated a go around. I informed him that he had not issued a landing clearance to us; hence our required go around. He responded saying that we were issued landing clearance; but then gave us missed approach instructions.we returned to the airport 10 minutes later; were issued a landing clearance; and we landed without further incident. I am quite confident that our flight was never issued a landing clearance on our first approach. I can however; give the controller the benefit of the doubt that I was cleared to land and I did miss such a clearance. However; I made three subsequent requests for a landing clearance; all of which were ignored. We were transmitting in clear air; not stepping on other communications. It's a simple clearance to issue; yet the controller seemed too busy to issue such a clearance. The controller was very obviously overworked with numerous departures. I suggest that the dtw tower figure out ways to not task saturate their controllers. I suggest that separate tower frequencies be used for each runway in operation. One controller working both runways; coordinating arrivals and departures appears to be too much workload.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier on final for Runway 21L at DTW failed to received landing clearance even though several tower contact attempts were made; the report listing controller workload as a probable causal factor.

Narrative: While on final approach at DTW for Runway 21L; we were handed off to Tower by Approach Control. As the pilot monitoring; I made the initial call to DTW Tower and informed them that we were on approximately a 5 mile final for a Visual Approach to Runway 21L. We received no response. The controller issued landing clearance to a CRJ ahead of us on the approach for the same runway. The Controller continued then to issue takeoff clearances to aircraft waiting at Runway 21R. He issued departure instructions and hand-offs to Departure Control to various departing aircraft for 21R. I asked again for landing clearance and received no response. He issued taxi instructions for the CRJ that arrived ahead of us on Runway 21L. I asked a third time for landing clearance and received no response. At this point; I confirmed with my First Officer and jump seat observer whether or not we had received a landing clearance. Neither of them had heard a landing clearance so we quickly reviewed our required actions for a go around maneuver. At 500 FT AGL; I made a forceful radio communication; 'Tower! Aircraft X! We need a landing clearance!' No response from Tower. At 200 FT; I called for the go around. Just as we were retracting the gear from the go around; Tower makes their first call to us; asking why we initiated a go around. I informed him that he had not issued a landing clearance to us; hence our required go around. He responded saying that we were issued landing clearance; but then gave us missed approach instructions.We returned to the airport 10 minutes later; were issued a landing clearance; and we landed without further incident. I am quite confident that our flight was never issued a landing clearance on our first approach. I can however; give the Controller the benefit of the doubt that I was cleared to land and I did miss such a clearance. However; I made three subsequent requests for a landing clearance; all of which were ignored. We were transmitting in clear air; not stepping on other communications. It's a simple clearance to issue; yet the Controller seemed too busy to issue such a clearance. The Controller was very obviously overworked with numerous departures. I suggest that the DTW Tower figure out ways to not task saturate their controllers. I suggest that separate tower frequencies be used for each runway in operation. One Controller working both runways; coordinating arrivals and departures appears to be too much workload.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.