Are you concerned about flying?

[Ari]

Alfanatic said:

Heavy wind, on the other hand, could well leave an aircraft with nowhere to land easily.

There's been gales all week, haven't heard of any airports closing...

[TangerinePool]

Ari said:

Alfanatic said:

Heavy wind, on the other hand, could well leave an aircraft with nowhere to land easily.

There's been gales all week, haven't heard of any airports closing...

But but the media say all planes crash and burn if its windy, rain, fog, snow, ice etc.

Would love to send a few of these journalists on a windy landing where the plane has to 'crab' onto the runway - the look of horror as they stare out their side window straight down the runway would be priceless

[PoleDriver]

I have flown an immense amount for work in the last 35 years and have only really had one worrying moment landing at Moscow airport, in a blizzard on an internal flight with Aeroflot. There was a mechanical failure which caused the flaps to fail (snigger) and we had to land at flight speed. Even that wasn't really scary!
Worst thing about flying is the number of uncontrollable children allowed on the flights these days!

[Alfanatic]

Ari said:

Alfanatic said:

Heavy wind, on the other hand, could well leave an aircraft with nowhere to land easily.

There's been gales all week, haven't heard of any airports closing...

and did all the aircraft have easy landings everywhere?

[Ari]

Alfanatic said:

Ari said:

Alfanatic said:

Heavy wind, on the other hand, could well leave an aircraft with nowhere to land easily.

There's been gales all week, haven't heard of any airports closing...

and did all the aircraft have easy landings everywhere?

I thought you meant no where to land within easy reach. I couldn't imagine planes being diverted because of strong winds in the first place (which was what we were talking about, planes being diverted as unable to land due to fog).

[Justin Cyder]

Wind isn't necessarily a problem, for airplanes. Head on for landing is desirable, a tail wind or a cross wind aren't.

Since we live on a windy island with predictable prevailing winds, airport builders tend to know which direction they want to build their runways to give the planes a hand when they turn up.

[Alfanatic]

Ari said:

Alfanatic said:

Ari said:

Alfanatic said:

Heavy wind, on the other hand, could well leave an aircraft with nowhere to land easily.

There's been gales all week, haven't heard of any airports closing...

and did all the aircraft have easy landings everywhere?

I thought you meant no where to land within easy reach. I couldn't imagine planes being diverted because of strong winds in the first place (which was what we were talking about, planes being diverted as unable to land due to fog).

sorry, i can see how it would read like that. i meant the landing is much more challenging than one in fog. headwind, not such a problem, but many major airports don't have runways running perpendicular to eachother, and a strong crosswind makes the pilots work much harder for their pay, and gusting is even worse.

[magpie215]

Ari said:

I couldn't imagine planes being diverted because of strong winds

Diverted from Belfast city to Belfast Aldergrove due to high winds 3 attempts into city the pilot had full rudder/aileron deflection and still losing the runway centreline on approach.

It was a sporty approach and I had a great view being in the jumpseat sat behind the captain :-)

[Trevor450]

The outbound flight of the autopilot fog landing was on the verge of safety for crosswinds. They had to short fuel the plane to account for this and we diverted to EMA for a splash and dash.

[krunchkin]

I flew back into Heathrow from Singapore last November when it was REALLY foggy. I remember us descending into a cloud bank and it just seemed to go on and on, then BOOM we were on the ground. And it was the most delicate, gentle landing I have ever experienced in an aircraft (and I've flown a lot). As we taxied to the gate I thought "wow - the pilot did an amazing job there" - then it dawned on me - because of the fog they'd let the computer land it, and it did a damn sight better job than any human touchdown I've ever felt.

[Ari]

Alfanatic said:

...and a strong crosswind makes the pilots work much harder for their pay, and gusting is even worse.

To be fair, I'd be gusting much worse if I were trying to land a bloody great plane in a crosswind too!

[PoleDriver]

krunchkin said:

because of the fog they'd let the computer land it, and it did a damn sight better job than any human touchdown I've ever felt.

Unfortunately the airports don't like using the auto land system too much as it always tends to bring the planes down on the same spot and the runway gets worn pretty fast!

[GuinnessMK]

PoleDriver said:

krunchkin said:

because of the fog they'd let the computer land it, and it did a damn sight better job than any human touchdown I've ever felt.

Unfortunately the airports don't like using the auto land system too much as it always tends to bring the planes down on the same spot and the runway gets worn pretty fast!

They could always mount the transponder on a truck and move it about a bit. You know just for sts and giggles...

[Alfanatic]

Ari said:

To be fair, I'd be gusting much worse if I were trying to land a bloody great plane in a crosswind too!

[kris450]

So far the best I've found for a full on CAT III autoland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsiGD-e1gAM&fea...

Seriously impressive how all the various systems come together to get you down so safely.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

kris450 said:

So far the best I've found for a full on CAT III autoland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsiGD-e1gAM&fea...

Seriously impressive how all the various systems come together to get you down so safely.

Seriously impressive how dangerous that is. Can't believe professionals would risk that.

[Trevor450]

kris450 said:

So far the best I've found for a full on CAT III autoland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsiGD-e1gAM&fea...

Seriously impressive how all the various systems come together to get you down so safely.

[RegMolehusband]

I've been a passenger in conditions like that landing at Schiphol. I could only see the ground a couple of seconds before touch-down and could barely see the grass on the side of the runway! Impressive indeed.

[dave_s13]

This could be rather interesting

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-plane-crash

[BlackVanDyke]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

kris450 said:

So far the best I've found for a full on CAT III autoland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsiGD-e1gAM&fea...

Seriously impressive how all the various systems come together to get you down so safely.

Seriously impressive how dangerous that is. Can't believe professionals would risk that.

That's about where I get stuck: why would you choose to do that? Clearly, it's not impossible to land safely in such conditions, but I can't think of many times when even the most confident, experienced pilot would feel that s/he could justify that decision over diverting and landing elsewhere.