Flying in Windy Conditions

[jetsetter]

Hey all and Captain Hutch,

I am writing this out of curiosity and would like to know how much wind impacts the takeoff and landing of an aircraft? I've done some searching on the forum and have found bits of info but nothing in depth. I fly about twice a month for my job and typically have no problem with it. My home airport is O'Hare as I reside in Chicago. I was flying in from Vegas last week and it was windy in Chicago (about 18 MPH Winds - 25 - 30 MPH gusts). Upon final approach, I saw the plane's wings began to spin (not up and down like typical but the wing actually going foward and the plane twisting). This made me nervous but we landed safely as always. Is there any insight you could provide about this?

Also, I always make it a point to tell the pilots that it was "good flight" when I'm de-boarding. I've heard that they like to get feedback from passengers. If it's a bumpy flight I typically don't say anything. Do pilots really like to hear feedback from the passengers?

Thanks

[tusphotog]

Sounds like there was a bit of a crosswind and they had to crab in order to stay aligned with the centerline. If they start using the rudder, you can feel the back of the plane "swing" a little bit.

I had one particularly hard landing one night--they popped a few overheads open. Upon leaving the plane I poke my head up front and say "hey y'all knocked my fillings out with that one!"

Nothing but laughter from the first officer as the captain sheepishly says "yeah, sorry about that." I saw the crew a few minutes later as I was on my way to my car and they were going to the hotel bus. I made sure they knew I was teasing and they said they always love comments--especially funny ones. I saw the captain a few weeks later in Las Vegas and he thanked me for the comments. He said the rest of the four day trip he was teased constantly by the FO.

Like I've said before, I usually try and poke my head up front and say hello or thanks.

[Captain Hutch]

Hi Jetsetter,

That is a good question--I can tell that you are a very observant passenger by noticing what the wings are doing just prior to landing. Most likely you were landing in a crosswind, flying in a "crab" down final approach so as to keep the aircraft ground track aligned with the runway, then the pilot using the rudder (accomplished with his foot, sometimes called "kicking the rudder") to align the wheels with the runway just prior to touchdown. It's a bit of a finesse maneuver since you need to perform this alignment literally within inches of the runway so as to not let the upwind wing lift up and consequently have the aircraft slide to the downwind side. (See bad example of a landing in Germany a month or two ago). I always enjoy this little challenge to the flight and appreciate when experienced passengers notice (assuming a nice landing!) and make a comment.

Winds do affect the takeoffs and landings somewhat by the fact that we adjust our approach and landing speeds to account for high headwinds and wind gusts. Any headwinds result in shorter takeoff and landing distances--the higher the headwind the shorter the roll. A slight tailwind--most airlines will land with a 10 knot max tailwind--results in a longer takeoff roll and longer landing distance.

I really enjoy flying into O'hare since the controllers there run an incredibly smooth and professional operation and the runways are nice and long. Long to me is any runway with a length of 8,000 feet or more. When the winds are generally easterly, i.e. coming from the east, O'hare uses runways 4 and 9 for takeoffs and landings so as to have a headwind. "Fours and nines" as I say to the co-pilot when we receive the airport landing information. For strong headwinds out of the southeast runways 14L and 14R are usually used. The runways are labeled according to the magnetic heading of the way the runways are laid out, i.e. runway 4 is oriented 40 degrees with respect to magnetic north. Of course if the controllers are on a westerly operation, runway 4 becomes runway 22 and runway 9 becomes runway 27. O'hare has parallel runways, so of the two runways oriented 40 degrees, the one on the left is runway 4L and the one on right is 4R. When the operation is the other way, runway 4R is called runway 22L.

Thanks for you questions and comments.

Hutch :tiphat:

[jetsetter]

Thanks for the information, very interesting!