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Reported wind

The other day I landed with a ~20kt crosswind component.

It was a non-event, and given the "max demo" figure for my aircraft is 25kt, it made me wonder whether the habit of many airports to measure it on top of a 10m pole is any good.

There is going to be a huge difference in the wind speed between 10m (32ft) and say 3-5ft - especially for a low wing aircraft.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

The strong constant wind component is not much of a problem in my experience and the heavier the aircraft, the easier it is because it will drift less once you align it with the runway.

However, gusts can be very very bad in the 20kt range. Remember the Lufthansa incident in Hamburg?

If your wing gets suddenly lifted, you have to react quickly and you're better off in a high wing. I have learned that strong crosswinds per se are not difficult to handle but I have a lot of respect for gusty winds on final.

My experience is the same as achimhas. In a nice open airport with little to disturb the airflow so you get nice consistent crosswinds the really seem like non events even with relatively strong winds. It's the gusting and turbulent ones with winshear that seem like hard work even if they aren't tat strong.

EIWT Weston, Ireland

There was me thinking my landings were getting good

But I am still convinced that there is a huge difference in the horizontal airflow velocity between say 1m and 10m, so extrapolating an "easy" landing at one airport (which measures it at 10m) to another airport (which measures it at 3m) is not a good idea.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I thought the height of the anemometer at airfields was standardised at 10m. I'm sure there is less wind close to the runway - slip needed to keep straight reduces. Is the demonstrated crosswind not done on the windspeed reported at the airfield anemometer?

Maoraigh
EGPE, United Kingdom
5 Posts
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