Commercial crosswind

Razorxp

Razorxp

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Razorxp
some friends were supposed to fly to key west EYW today but most flights were cancelled due to high winds. When I looked it was approx a 19/23 crosswind component. Granted these are not huge planes but a 80-100 seat regional seems like it would be able to handle that pretty easy. Am I missing something here?

Does each airline set a limit for crosswinds?
 
EYW has a really short runway. Delta regularly flies 737s from ATL. I'm sure the companies require less wind when going. Some of the airports my company flies into have some more restrictions like no tailwind component, VASI/PAPI must be operable, thrust reversers must be operable, etc.
 
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So do they set limits for each style plane? Just wondering this is all new to me.

Would smaller plane have more leeway vrs a larger one due to the larger needing more speed and runway?

Just didn't seem like a ton of wind to me.

Thanks for the input
 
jordane93 said:
EYW has a really short runway. I'm sure the companies require less wind when going. Some of the airports my company flies into have some more restrictions like no tailwind component, VASI/PAPI must be operable, thrust reversers must be operable, etc.
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It has 4,800'. I suspect you'd have considered that "long" only a few months ago. :)
 
Razorxp said:
So do they set limits for each style plane? Just wondering this is all new to me.

Would smaller plane have more leeway vrs a larger one due to the larger needing more speed and runway?

Just didn't seem like a ton of wind to me.

Thanks for the input
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I would assume so but it's different for every company. With my company, it's all on the Jeppesen 10-7 page under runway assessment. Some runways only the CRJ200 is allowed to land and some have restrictions like the ones I named above.
 
I know a lot of planes with winglets, which are a large chunk of the fleet, have lower crosswind capabilities than those without. I think the 737 loses about 5-7 kts of crosswind ability.
 
I fly the CRJ-200/700/900 and we don't do EYW ops but we do some rather short runways. Our crosswind component is 27kts sustained (gusts don't count) the only time our crosswind limit is lowered is with certain levels of runway contamination and breaking action. During a CAT2 approach we are limited to 15.

Also you mentioned the larger planes needing more speed, this isn't always the case. Our Approach in the CRJ-200 is often in the mid 140's due to it not having slats and we regularly are faster and chasing down airbuses/boeings on final. So the larger the bird doesn't necessarily mean the faster the approach speed
 
Razorxp said:
Does each airline set a limit for crosswinds?
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Yes. The bigger the plane the higher the crosswind component. For example a particular major airline has 45 kts for B777 and their express aircraft have 27 kts for their CRJ200s. This is predicated on Dry runways with good breaking.
 
MD11 max landing weight 491,500 lbs, ref speed is 171 knots

Max DEMONSTRATED x-wind 35 kts
 
midwestpa24 said:
I think the 737 loses about 5-7 kts of crosswind ability.
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On the 737NG the demonstrated crosswind for takeoff is 34 with blended winglets, 33 with split-scimitar (25 for wet runways). For landing it is 40 and 37.

Greg Bockelman said:
A 777 approach speed is lower than a 737-900.
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EVERY other airliner has slower approach speeds than a 737-900! On my last Stadium Visual 29 at EWR our target* was 165kts and we were following a 757**!

(*Target is Vref + wind additive)
(**The 757 has some of the lowest target speeds of all the airliners)
 
... (**The 757 has some of the lowest target speeds of all the airliners)[/QUOTE said:
Which is why it can be considered an "old man's airplane."
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The other night we got the cruise clearance before we got to cruise altitude. Sure is a different world out here.
 
The problem with the 737-900 isn't that it can't fly slower because it can. The issue is that Boeing stretched it one too many times. The reason for the higher approach speeds is to keep the tail from dragging the runway in a normal flare.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
The other night we got the cruise clearance before we got to cruise altitude. Sure is a different world out here.
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I didn't realize you were in GUM. I just did one trip to the Atolls with my former employer in the DC8 Combi. It was a week+ of HNL KWA and WAK out-and-backs. They do it now in a 757 combi but can't out-and-back under 117 so layover.

AKBill said:
(RE: 737-900 approach speed)
Interesting ...:)
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Okay, I was thinking of a different adjective but we'll go with 'interesting'...

mscard88 said:
Controller nature call....
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Standard procedure out there. KWA is Kwajalein Atoll which is 2,446SM southwest of Honolulu. I flew it some years ago at a previous employer on scheduled charter flights for the military's Air Mobility Command. Commercial service to KWA is on UAL's Island Hopper.

ATC is through Oakland Oceanic with radio contact with San Francisco Radio (ARINC) on HF. When about 200nm out from KWA we'd be SEL-CALled by San Francisco ARINC. The exchange would go something like this:

ATN430: "San Francisco Radio, ATN430"
ARINC: "ATN430, ATC Clearance. Advise ready to copy"
ATN430: "Go ahead"
ARINC: "ATC Clears ATN 430 to Cruise FL390 to the Kwajalein airport, report arrival, readback"

I guess there's not a lot of traffic out there...
 
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