I talked to several controllers and received similar answers. All three of them said depending on the airport, they may not want you to enter the pattern. They said they would prefer you to climb and fly the runway heading. By flying over the runway, you should be clear of any traffic, and if you haven’t gotten a hold of tower by the time you get to the other end of the runway, then punch in 7600 because you have a comm. Failure. They said they would then give you instructions to remain in the pattern or go back to approach. Since there is no missed approach procedure for a visual approach, your only choice is to stay in the pattern, but always talk to tower because they may have a different plan for you. If you don’t like the grey area this puts you in, don’t forget, tower will be able to give you pattern instructions before you begin to do any missed approach procedure. The people in the tower are human and they will work with you no matter how annoyed they may sound.

For example, I was up in a tower today and someone did a go around, but instead of making right traffic as they were told, they got confused and turned left. The controller saw and was able to make room in the pattern. He was not too upset with the pilot because he knew the pilot’s mind was prepared to land, but last second, the pilot had to change his mindset completely and start a climb. He said he expects pilots to get behind their aircraft when that happens.