Centaurus
From personal experience at strong crosswind landings real time in a 737 I have found the 737 Level D FFS I have operated have shown excellent fidelity in strong crosswinds.
It is well-known that it is extremely difficult for pilots to assess the accuracy of flight simulators. It is proven to be too subjective in many occasions. A study I have recently seen (done by a large airline) asked pilots about the accuracy of simulators in representing gusty crosswind. The outcome simply gave a normal distribution with the average at neutral and as many pilots saying it was very bad to very good.
If level D simulators/engineering simulators are good in representing gusty crosswind why are we still doing time consuming and expensive flight tests to demonstrate a certain crosswind?
It is interesting to have a look at the NTSB report on the B737 excursion. I picked a few lines from this report.
NTSB report AAR10-04, Boeing 737-500, NN186111, Denver, Colorado, December 20, 2008
Contributing to the accident were the following factors: ..... and 2) inadequate crosswind training in the airline industry due to deficient simulator wind gust modeling.
“the company’s 737-500 flight simulators (in which the captain likely accomplished this training) were not programmed to simulate gust effects below about 50 feet above the ground and, therefore, were not capable of replicating the complex disturbances that pilots would experience during takeoffs and landings in gusty surface winds.”... “Continental discovered that its FFS atmospheric model software allowed for only steady state wind inputs—no gusting winds—below 50 feet agl. Before this discovery, Continental’s simulator instructors were unaware that the simulator would not apply gusty winds below 50 feet agl, regardless of their manual inputs to the system.”
“Although much work has been done to improve the fidelity of flight simulators in recent decades, the NTSB is unaware of any recent efforts to improve the fidelity of the wind models used in simulators for the training of gusty crosswind takeoffs and landings.”
“After completing takeoffs in all four crosswind conditions, some participants stated that the task did not seem that difficult overall. They also stated that the simulator did not accurately reflect lateral forces, nor did it provide as good of a “seat-of-the-pants” feel for wind gusts as an airplane would.”
NTSB recommendations:
Gather data on surface winds at a sample of major U.S. airports (including Denver International Airport) when high wind conditions and significant gusts are present and use these data to develop realistic, gusty crosswind profiles for use in pilot simulator training programs. (A-10-110)
Require 14
Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and 91K operators to incorporate the realistic, gusty crosswind profiles developed as a result of Safety Recommendation A-10-110 into their pilot simulator training programs. (A-10-111)