I was wondering how often you guys actually cancel a flight because of wind? I decided to skip a flight for this reason on Wednesday. I planned a flight in Cirrus from LKPM (Pribram, CZ) to LIPQ (Trieste, IT). Wind in Prague was something like 28034G49KT, exceeding 70kt from FL050 up and there was a SIGMET for severe turbulence for most of the Czech FIR from GND to FL100 and moderate to severe turbulence forecasted for the northern part of the Alps. I do not have much experience in such windy conditions so I’m trying to find benchmarks to identify the limits based on the forecast and distinguish between uncomfortable and dangerous.
I have once departed with wind gusting to 40kt. It felt terribly strong on the ground but surprisingly there was almost no turbulence in the air. I didn’t fly across any mountains at that time though.
I do not do extended sideslips like that any more. I crab down to 20’ above threshold or so and then cross the controls to land on the upwind main gear. When I was younger and less experienced I needed to get stabilised in the sideslip higher, but now I can just kick it in just before touchdown.
Exactly what I do.
how often you guys actually cancel a flight because of wind?
Not yet in 13 years of having the TB20, I am happy to say… (25kt max demo figure).
It’s simply a matter of taste and personal style, what counts is that the landing is safe … Both ways can be safe
Peter wrote:
Exactly what I do.
But Patty Wagstaff, who is not exactly a newborn kitten, unless the picture is from an I instructional flight with Flyer59 way back when, seemed to be in a sideslip from a lot higher…
I was just the photographer in the back seat. Patty doesn’t really need much instruction :-)
Or, @honza, did you mean the winds aloft and turbulence resulting from the air flowing over terrain?
That is a different thing. There is some very rough formula for the downdraughts which can be expected for a given wind flowing across a mountain ridge, versus how high you are above the ridge. It is something like 10kt of wind, you flying 1000ft above the ridge, will give you a -500fpm downdraught.
My concerns for this particular flight were rather winds aloft and associated turbulence. The take-off would be probably challenging (40 deg off runway direction) but manageable in my view. What made me to give up the flight was the severe turbulence sigmet and my imagination what such a strong wind blowing over the Alps is able to do with my little airplane…
How ‘severe’ can the severe turbulence be in such conditions? I read about planes turned upside down but wouldn’t such cases be associated with convective weather only? All my encounters with turbulence created just by wind to date have been in a category ‘unpleasant’ but certainly not dangerous.
Do not fly into severe turbulence. Never. I have some reports from pilots who did, and they all regretted it …
You can always slow down in turbulence. Other than close to mountains, I have always been able to control turbulence with airspeed. Doesn’t make it pleasant but also doesn’t make it unsafe.
Severe always means unsafe, for a light plane anyway, imho
