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Old 9th December 2008 | 19:30
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lederhosen
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The same page says 'the tailwind component is relatively insensitive to FMS errors in the determination of the drift angle'. This suggests that the FMS might indeed provide some useful information. We can all read what we want to out of this learned paper.

What our Brazilian contributor asked was, do any companies encourage its use? The answer is yes...but not in isolation to decide on a go-around. As safetypee says it can provide background or trend info. Focussing on it entirely is wrong, being aware of it can do no harm.

I also find it useful as a trigger to configure a bit earlier, say flaps 10 on the 737, if there is a strong tailwind when descending through 2000 feet. You can cross check this by other cues such as the thrust lever position/N1 when descending with the glideslope. Similar cues are available on short finals.
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