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Old 31st Aug 2016, 02:57
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Join Date: Feb 2006
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It might be that the way many major airports are measuring wind is NO LONGER GOOD ENOUGH..especially given their propensity to also develop the associated land up to the legal limits imposed by the Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS). These limits may not be suitable when it comes to certain combination of wind speed/direction (vector) and the proposed or existing location of large (width, height and length) buildings..

I believe many major airports globally, are using far more sophisticated AWS than those which utilise cup anemometers. I think you'll find that Dubai, and many FAA Major airports use more modern measuring equipment. See the internet links in my previous posts.

10 Minute Mean Winds have VERY LIMITED application to Flying Operations.. Note, that most aircraft crosswind limits refer to total crosswind (inclusive of GUST).. Gust Wind or a 1 Minute Maximum Sustained Wind would be far more applicable..

Aviation and Non-Aviation Infrastructure can significantly impact on an airport's wind environment, particularly when structures are adjacent to operational runways.. Note that visibility is measured at three different sections of the Runway for Low Vis Operations. It may transpire that the Aviation community should be measuring wind at multiple points around an airport..including on the roof of very large hangars or terminal buildings?..

Building Induced Turbulence and Windshear becomes a more significant issue when aircraft are limited to certain Runways due to performance issues (thrust, TODR, weight, PCN to name a few)...which may not be ideal given the prevailing wind at the time, regardless of whether the wind is a Mean Wind, Gust Wind, Total Wind...and/or whether it is measured at 10m or 35m..

All I'm suggesting is that IMHO, this issue should be EXAMINED IN DETAIL by the accident investigation team..

Further, all pilots need to educate themselves about building induced turbulence/windshear and should remain vigilant as to its presence in certain adverse wind conditions..
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