RatherBeFlying
That is what scares me watching some pilots approaching at their VREF speed in very strong windshear conditions.
I landed a Citation in winter going into Doncaster the winds were 45 KTS gusting to 70 max 80 KTS at night.
Shop fronts were being blown in Lorries blown over as well as trees
Doncaster the winds were 10 degrees off the runway unlike Liverpool and Manchester.
the windshear down the approach was horrendous I was holding 170KTS but the IAS was leaping from 120 to 170 KTS with huge wing drops.
I held that speed till coming into very short finals and the air smoothed a bit flying it on at 120KTS instead of the usual 105 KTS
The worst bit was taxiing in as it took two of us to hold the controls
Shutting down the poor marshaller was blown clean off his feet.
This was the most challenging approach I have done but it emphasised that had I selected normal approach speeds and VREF the aircraft would have stalled. They were unforecast winds to that strength when we left and were almost identical at the alternatives albeit with a much bigger crosswind component than at Doncaster.
Remember with strong headwinds your landing distance will be much shorter so you can afford more speed on touchdown and learn to fly the aircraft on rather than a conventional flare and VREF doesn't not have to be 1.3 X the stall in a given configuration it could be 1.4 or 1.5 if you fly it on
Pace
Last edited by Pace; 8th Jun 2015 at 11:39.