Wind Limits for Helicopters?
Greetings. I've never even been on this forum before, but it was suggested to me that I post this question here rather than on Rotorheads.
I'm a helicopter instructor on R22s. Yesterday I did a couple of lessons in steadily increasing winds; by the time we finished it was 20 kts gusting 30, and forecast to increase (which it did). The school owner then cancelled the rest of the day, saying the wind was outside the R22's limits. At the time I thought, "what limits", but didn't say anything. I later looked through the POH, albeit somewhat quickly, and couldn't find any wind limits. I vaguely recall hearing of a crosswind start-up limit, which I suppose is possible, but all that would mean is that you should land and park into wind. And although far from being a rotary aerodynamics expert, I can't think of any reason for a wind limit....unless the wind was so abnormally strong that it would blow the helicopter apart or you'd get retreating blade stall in normal flight! I've flown the R22 in 40kt winds before; it's not fun, but it's OK.
I can think of a lot of good reasons for not teaching novices in strong gusty winds, but they all relate to helicopter handling, not the actual limits of the machine. There are also a lot of limits imposed by everyone from Frank Robinson to individual schools, designed to stop low hours pilots killing themselves. These occasionally get passed on in folklore as "the limits". So, am I missing something obvious that I ought to know? Or did the school owner get it wrong?