windy conditions
 

:uhoh: i will be on a plane flying from glasgow to stansted on saturday and am a bit concerned that it will be very windy on both take off and landing.. do they ever cancel flights because of high winds or is it not a problem for the airlines or the pilots..:ok:

Normally an airline will decide what the allowed maximum wind speed is, for its operations and publish this in its OM-A (general ops manual).

Then each A/C has its set of operating limitations (amongst others, WIND limitations i.e. Head/Tail/Crosswind limits). These are published in the OM-B (the aircraft operating manual with specifics for that type of A/C).

So generally if the wind is too strong and outside the operating "envelope" of the operation at hand, the flight will be delayed till the conditions are favourable or possibly cancelled.

The pilots are trained to the "limits" and above those limits they would be compromising the legal limits. In certain cases the pilots can accept small limit exceedances, but normally this is not done without a VERY good reason and being fully aware of what you're doing. There are certain limits that should never be exceeded, but which might have to be in an emergency situation.

It should also be pointed out that for them to cancel a flight it would have to be blowing very hard indeed.

In the early days of aviation a danish newspaper wrote:

"Despite the strong head wind - the pilot managed to get the aeroplane in the air".

to give you an idea how much wind is alot.

cross wind limits which is the wind strength blowing across the runway normally is about 30knts some types more some less.

head wind ie on your nose isn't even listed sometimes.

tail wind normally not more than 10knts (which is only an issue at some airports which have lumpy bits on the climb out in one direction).

So with a 80mph wind on your nose you can go and anything up to about 30degs off the runway you can go. It won't be pleasant for the first 3000ft but you can still go.

Landing with max cross wind don't be suprised to see the runway out of one of the side windows until quite close or a firm landing.

tescoapp

reminds me of that picture of the B757-200 of BA rotating from ABZ in gusty weather, its on !!!!!!!!!!!!!! - cracking picture!

BB121

The latest forecasts suggest that it in fact will be almost calm until 6pm ( the latest time for which forecasts are available).

Having said that I concur with what others have said - the winds would have to be extreme before flights are cancelled - in my 15 years of commercial flying I ave never known a flight cancelled because the wind was too strong and outside limits. Cencelled or delayed for fog yes, but not winds.

We kept flying through the two 'hurricanes' of last century!

The only time I have seen flights cancelled was when the remnants of Hurricane something passed through Keflavik and the wind speed exceeded the limit for the airbridge so the flights could not be boarded!

Unlikely in UK, BB. Enjoy!

Hi bluebird121,

So how was your flight, or to be more specific, the T/O's and LDG's?

Cheers vir eers,

SL

take offs and landings
 

:ok: hi Square Leg..the take off from glasgow and subsequent landing at stansted were no problem at all . thanks to you and everyonel for replying to my querie.the captain was also very helpful , not just telling us the height , which is the norm but also saying to watch the roads because of the icy conditions.the return journey was a wee bit different in as much as the first officer never spoke until we were half way home and the descent into glasgow was a bit wobbly but it always seems to be like that.oh well back up in the air again on monday to gran canaria. am i a glutton for punishment;) :ok:

bluebird,
Glad you have landed ok But I have t6 tell you that "due to the wind" Ihave seen an aeroplane fly backwards :ok:
It was a "Twin Pioneer" [stall 30{ish} knots], surface wind 35 knots.... Brilliant
watp,iktch

chiglet

Saw something similar over Newcastle once. Single engine light aircraft heading north on a day of very strong winds from the north and literally making no headway. Pilot was clearly not amused and put on what sounded like full power, but to no avail other than to draw attention to the problem and start attracting what was quite a large audience on the ground. After a few minutes of getting nowhere the pilot turned away and headed south. Imagine that aviator had a story to tell that evening...

With regard to crosswind, while I accept there are limits, from the pax perspective landing close to the limits can be a bit disconcerting <--- this is ES talking who enjoys flying ... those of a nervous disposition may chose to be scared. Can think of two memorable incidents at NCL, one involving a Gill ATR weathercocking at touchdown (for a moment it felt like I could see the full runway before somebody up front justified every hard earned crust, plus another in Feb on a KLM F100 where we wangled the wings quite impressively shortly after crossing the perimeter fence. Have no doubt both were quite safe, within limits and all that, but there is the oooooooooeeerrrr feeling when these things happen.:oh:

windy conditions
 

:) hi chiglet..i had to laugh when you said you had seen a plane flying backwards. then i thought it would not have been very funny for the pilot . although the descent at gran canaria almost blows you backwards.;) :ok:

Have actually landed going backwards!:O

OK it was in a hang-glider and I should never taken off in the first place.:O :\

windy conditions
 

:cool: hi Turin.. maybe that was not the most sensible thing you have done but at least you were ok.that is the main thing:ok:

Standard windy day landing at Edinburgh

http://www.pbase.com/glenns/image/36741305.jpg

windy conditions
 

:ooh: wub. that is some photograph of a very dodgy landing..i am so glad i was not on that plane..i wonder what the passengers made of it.:ok:

I remember in 1962.......being launched in a T21 Sedburgh glider
At the "top of the launch" we were "hoovering", sorry Hovering, that was due to the cable..........holding us in position:confused: on "release" we drifted backwards, until we stuffed the nose down :ok:
Then there was.....no never mind, I'll be here all chuffin' night.
watp,iktch

bluebird121 - Not a dodgy landing at all, but some very quick photography!

Standard cross-wind landing is to drop the wing into wind and keep straight with the rudder, landing on the into wind wheel first.

Never really manage it myself but this pilot got it spot on! (Unless the wind was from the other side that is;) )

Believe me, the landing would be a lot more uncomfortable in a strong cross-wind if if didn't look like that:ok:

Barnstormers backwards
 

seem to remember a report prolly early 80's about a little regional air display which was effectively blown out .. except for a couple of charachters in Stampes operating as "The Barnstormers" .. who got airborne and raced each other across the airfield .. backwards ... ah those were the days !