New Bahama landing tactic

[bahama flier]

I have not tried this but I might just try it.

Bahamas winds are almost always windy and cross winds with plenty of gusts are just standard landing conditions there. There are only three airports with taxiways out of about a hundred landing strips. All airports but three use the same airport frequency, so flying is not for the faint of heart over there.

Commercial aircraft routinely do straight in from 6000 ft, and seldom do pattern approaches unless there are two many landing at the same time.

I noticed the large aircraft landing after I had a real scary landing due to heavy cross winds and hard gust.

The Commercial aircraft were landing with the tailwinds to avoid the strong wind gusts that are sometimes worse than the cross winds. They think the gust from the rear are less trouble than head on when trying to touch down.

I watched several do this and it seemed to work out better than my landing with a head wind. Yes they had plenty of runway to do this.

I am not inviting an argument, I am just making an observation, anyone experience this?

 

[Sac Arrow]

Hard to answer if you're not inside the cockpit making the decisions. There could be a few reasons why one might accept a tailwind, given sufficient runway. Not really enough information to intelligently comment.

 

[EdFred]

What's the gust amount and how does that relate to your approach speed vs stall speed.

I'd rather have the gust from the front and provide a little more lift rather than a gust from behind and finding myself in a stall close to the ground. Then again I know a few people that like it from behind.

 

[Jhernandez04]

Then again I know a few people that like it from behind.

Pun intended? Lol

 

[Bill Watson]

I'm not a big plane driver but I can't imagine the factors favoring a downwind landing are any different for large or small aircraft.

First factor is runway slope. Landing uphill can trump landing downwind - gusty crosswinds or not.

Second factor is obstacles on the approach, or possibly on departure.

Other than that, one might land downwind for convenience (shorter taxi). That's generally a stupid reason but it's been done.

Otherwise, gusty xwind landings are best done favoring the wind. But I'm very open to learn more.

 

[Henning]

I'm not a big plane driver but I can't imagine the factors favoring a downwind landing are any different for large or small aircraft.

First factor is runway slope. Landing uphill can trump landing downwind - gusty crosswinds or not.

Second factor is obstacles on the approach, or possibly on departure.

Other than that, one might land downwind for convenience (shorter taxi). That's generally a stupid reason but it's been done.

Otherwise, gusty xwind landings are best done favoring the wind. But I'm very open to learn more.

Bahamas pretty much eliminates both slope and obstacles....

 

[Brad Z]

At many strips in the Bahamas, landing downwind is a good way to end up in the drink.

 

[lr60plt]

The Commercial aircraft were landing with the tailwinds to avoid the strong wind gusts that are sometimes worse than the cross winds. They think the gust from the rear are less trouble than head on when trying to touch down.

I watched several do this and it seemed to work out better than my landing with a head wind.

This makes no sense at all.

No operator of any airplane would ever think a gusty tailwinds was the better option.

If anything they were landing with tailwinds due to whatever kind of traffic flow was going on, or they just didn't switch runways yet.

Not to mention large operators have airframe tailwind limitations and SOP/company policy as well.

 

[frfly172]

No taxi ways ,so they land towards terminal and take off opposite directions.keeps them off the active and saves fuel.

 

[lr60plt]

Which airport was this at by the way?

 

[Bill Watson]

Bahamas pretty much eliminates both slope and obstacles....

Maybe... my first landing was at MYAK (Congo Town) and I recall a slope, though the thresholds are reported only 3' apart. They also have a displaced threshold.

No taxi ways ,so they land towards terminal and take off opposite directions.keeps them off the active and saves fuel.

That's typical I'm sure. Especially when burning Jet-A and flying into places with minimal facilities. I noted private Jet-A tanks at a few places.

 

[Busflyer]

Have been at three airlines during my career. All had a 10 kit max for a tailwind component. That being said, if the terminal was at one end of the field and we could do a straight in and save time we usually will accept a small tailwind. Of course we are going to consider runway length, wet runway, etc. but if we can save time and do it safely then why not.

Not trying to sound uppity by any means but a 15 or 20 kt crosswind isn't a real big deal when you fly as much as we do.

 

[N801BH]

This makes no sense at all.

No operator of any airplane would ever think a gusty tailwinds was the better option.

If anything they were landing with tailwinds due to whatever kind of traffic flow was going on, or they just didn't switch runways yet.

Not to mention large operators have airframe tailwind limitations and SOP/company policy as well.

Didn't some idiots try that stunt in Aspen earlier this year???

 

[Captain]

I have not tried this but I might just try it.

Bahamas winds are almost always windy and cross winds with plenty of gusts are just standard landing conditions there. There are only three airports with taxiways out of about a hundred landing strips. All airports but three use the same airport frequency, so flying is not for the faint of heart over there.

Commercial aircraft routinely do straight in from 6000 ft, and seldom do pattern approaches unless there are two many landing at the same time.

I noticed the large aircraft landing after I had a real scary landing due to heavy cross winds and hard gust.

The Commercial aircraft were landing with the tailwinds to avoid the strong wind gusts that are sometimes worse than the cross winds. They think the gust from the rear are less trouble than head on when trying to touch down.

I watched several do this and it seemed to work out better than my landing with a head wind. Yes they had plenty of runway to do this.

I am not inviting an argument, I am just making an observation, anyone experience this?

Not enough information. What were the winds?

I'll take a bit of TW component to fit into the flow or deal with FBO location. But 10 kts is the max and that seems pretty standard.

There is no way they are selecting TW over CW though. A CW is a CW and a CW with HW is better, not worse. There must have been something else at play.