Nasty Winds at Airports

It used to be that surface winds of the 48 lower states typically were moderate. Yes, there were exceptions. For example, Flagstaff, AZ almost daily has strong and sometimes very strong winds from the southwest. 

But now rather frequently, winds even in the Dallas area are very strong and gusty. Hence it may be useful to review how we should handle that situation. 

Taxiing

While taxiing, two simple rules tell how to use the aileron and elevator. 

If the wind comes at you from the front, position the aileron as if you were banking into the wind. At the same time, pull the elevator a bit as if you wanted to climb.  "Climb into a headwind" is a good sentence to remember the rule.

If the wind comes from behind, bank away from the wind and position the elevator for a descent. "Dive away from a tailwind" summarizes the action.

The rules require quick action when you are turning rapidly, since the direction of the wind shifts quickly and thus requires continuous adjustment of aileron and elevator.

Takeoff

The rule "Climb into a headwind" becomes "Turn into the headwind" during the takeoff, since the trim of the elevator already correctly positions the elevator. It's easy to forget "Turn into the headwind" since you are focused on tracking the runway and watching the airspeed. 

But if you do not follow the rule, the wind may push the plane sideways off the runway, all the while exerting a strong side load on the wheel bearings. 

As the plane accelerates to takeoff speed, you gradually reduce the aileron. At rotation, the upwind main wheel will stay a bit longer on the ground. Once that wheel has lifted off, you control the plane as usual.

Landing

Strong winds are often accompanied by gusts. Say, the wind is 20 kts with gusts to 26 kts. When landing, the rule taught in flight school says that you add half of the gust factor, in the example case (26-20)/2 = 3kts, to the landing speed.

What happens when the situation is temporarily much worse? The plane may stall suddenly, you may get a very hard landing, or bend metal in the worst case. 

A different rule described by Barry Schiff in AOPA Pilot of December 2010, avoids this. On final, you select the air speed so that the ground speed indicated by GPS is equal to the landing speed. 

With that choice, the plane cannot ever stall during the approach. Once over the runway, you gradually reduce the speed until you touch down. 

It may still happen that you enter an unintended stall while close to the ground, and you may bump onto the runway. But that bump is always mild and will not damage the plane.

You apply the same rule when there is a crosswind. Of course, you make sure that the crosswind component is something you can handle.

On final, you compensate for the crosswind by turning the plane into the wind. Just before touchdown, you apply rudder to line up the plane with the runway and simultaneously use the aileron to counteract the resulting drift. 

At this point, you are cross-controlled, something you generally want to avoid. But this action takes place very close to the ground, and a stall cannot result in the deadly spin induced by crossed controls. 

The upwind wheel touches down first. At that point, it's hugely important that you increase the aileron input. If not done, the crosswind will lift the upwind wing and toss the plane back into the air.

Parking

When parking at a refueling station with strong winds, position the plane so that it cannot possibly be pushed into the facility as you exit the plane. Then use chocks to hold the plane in place. 

It's clever to carry the chocks with you since self-service refueling stations rarely provide them.

An Example

Recently, we had an opportunity to use all these rules. Approaching the Andrews, TX airport E11, the wind was announced as 20kts gusting to 26 kts. 

Fortunately, Andrews has three runways, so there is always one with no or small crosswind. During final, we used ground speed equal to landing speed.

Just before touching down, a gust threw up the plane, we compensated by pushing the nose down, then immediately pulled back up. Then, close to the ground, the plane stalled. It was a mild bump of no consequence.

Taxiing to the terminal was a challenge due to repeated turns. But adhering to the above rules, we managed to do that okay. 

Refueling was another difficult problem since there was no help when we climbed out of the plane, and the plane swiveled around. But we controlled that, too, and after another 20 minutes were back in the air.

The Takeaway

When you are approaching an airport with major wind condition, say while still 30 minutes away, you may want to review all these steps mentally, even practice them.

As a result, you will be well prepared for the landing, taxiing, and so on.

Yes, it's likely that there will be unanticipated events calling for quick reaction. You can focus on them while handling the other aspects using the recently refreshed memory. 

That method has worked well for me.