YEEE-haw!!! A windy day at DFW!

[TangoWhiskey]

DFW is shut down to just the two diagonal runways: 31L and 31R. I was on the receiving end of that, one day, sitting in Kansas City waiting for release during a ground stop at DFW due to the winds. It was "strange" to come in and land on 31L, as that runway otherwise NEVER has arrivals (except from the OTHER side, 13R).

Today I listened to the controllers and aircraft and watched the arrivals while eating lunch.

"Winds 290 at 32, gusting 40"

"Windshear alert, loss of 25 knots at 300 feet"

"Microburst alert, loss of 35 knots 1 mile final"

After each arrival and PIREP of actual losses and gains during short final, ATC would ask the next pilot in queue "Did you copy the PIREP and Microburst Alert? Do you still want to depart?" Never heard anybody say "no". ;-) Big aluminum ones! Remember Delta at DFW?

 

[TangoWhiskey]

Oh, I was going to add: since they don't have an approach published for 31L like they do for 31R, they bring folks in on the 35R localizer, and they transition to a visual for 31L. Cool to watch them bank off to the NW on short final.

 

[flyersfan31]

Wow, sounds like a wild day. Good fun for a spectator.

 

[KennyFlys]

A doctor came in the other day who had been training during time in California. He wanted to fly while here and also said he'd been having difficulty with landings. We were to fly this afternoon. I called him to cancel.

I didn't want to scare him with wind so I explained I really wanted calmer winds so we could start with a baseline on what he may be doing and what we can change. Having strong and gusting winds would make that difficult. While that's true, the high winds were also an issue and I wanted him to be up to facing that challenge down the road... in gusting winds but not today's winds.

The one-minute weather was 31026G33. Peak winds were 38. The runway in use was 35.

He offered to go up and do other things besides landings so then I had to present the safety issue, explaining the winds being forty degrees off the runway. While I would fly in that if I absolutely had to, I really had no interest in putting a student in those conditions.

We'll get a chance to check out his skills on Saturday. You can't evaluate someone when their efforts are masked by remarkable circumstances.

Our chief instructor's student decided against flying in a Columbia 400 after spotting a PC-12 going around followed by a 73 going around. Those aren't good signs.

 

[SCCutler]

You wanna know windy?

Today is the first time, ever, that the building I am in (18 story, I am on 16) was swaying so much that I was getting seasick. No joke.

I am accustomed to the building creaking in the wind, but not that much actual motion. Freaky.

 

[tonycondon]

its blowing 30-40 mph here for i swear the last week. or month.

 

[BillTIZ]

Was last Sunday.. and more coming.

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
501 PM PDT THU APR 2 2009

.A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL DIVE DOWN THROUGH THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST AND ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. THIS
WILL RESULT IN STRONG WINDS AROUND THE SOUTHERN SIERRA AND SPRING
MOUNTAINS THIS EVENING. A STRONGER SWATH OF WINDS WILL CROSS THE
MOJAVE DESERT LEADING TO MORE WIDESPREAD HIGH WINDS ON FRIDAY.

NVZ018-019-030700-
/O.CON.KVEF.WI.Y.0015.000000T0000Z-090403T1500Z/
SHEEP RANGE-SPRING MOUNTAINS-RED ROCK CANYON-
INCLUDING...THE TOWN OF MT CHARLESTON
501 PM PDT THU APR 2 2009

...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM PDT FRIDAY..

A WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM PDT FRIDAY FOR THE
SPRING MOUNTAINS...RED ROCK CANYON AND SHEEP RANGE.

WEST WINDS HAVE STARTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE SPRING MOUNTAINS
AND SHEEP RANGE. THE PEAK PERIOD FOR STRONG WINDS WILL BETWEEN
6 PM AND 2 AM FRIDAY. WEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO
50 MPH WILL OCCUR ALONG THE EASTERN SLOPES. LOCALIZED GUSTS UP TO
55 MPH MAY OCCUR AROUND THE RED ROCK CANYON AREA.

$$

 

[BillTIZ]

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
501 PM PDT THU APR 2 2009

.A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL DIVE DOWN THROUGH THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST AND ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. THIS
WILL RESULT IN STRONG WINDS AROUND THE SOUTHERN SIERRA AND SPRING
MOUNTAINS THIS EVENING. A STRONGER SWATH OF WINDS WILL CROSS THE
MOJAVE DESERT LEADING TO MORE WIDESPREAD HIGH WINDS ON FRIDAY.

AZZ001>003-036-CAZ524>527-NVZ021-022-030700-
/O.CON.KVEF.HW.A.0005.090403T1700Z-090404T0300Z/
NORTHWEST PLATEAU-LAKE HAVASU AND FORT MOHAVE-NORTHWEST DESERTS-
LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA-EASTERN MOJAVE DESERT-
MORONGO BASIN-CADIZ BASIN-SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY-
UPPER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY-SOUTHERN CLARK COUNTY-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...COLORADO CITY..
PIPE SPRING NATIONAL MONUMENT...TUWEEP...MT TRUMBULL..
WESTERN GRAND CANYON...LAKE HAVASU...TOPOCK...KINGMAN..
GOLDEN VALLEY...HUALAPAI RESERVATION...DOLAN SPRINGS..
VALENTINE...WIKIEUP...BAKER...MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE..
MORONGO VALLEY...YUCCA VALLEY...JOSHUA TREE...TWENTYNINE PALMS..
NEEDLES...LAUGHLIN...BULLHEAD CITY...HOOVER DAM...PRIMM...JEAN..
SEARCHLIGHT...CAL-NEV-ARI
501 PM PDT THU APR 2 2009 /501 PM MST THU APR 2 2009/

...HIGH WIND WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH
FRIDAY EVENING..

A HIGH WIND WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH
FRIDAY EVENING FOR SOUTHERN CLARK COUNTY...EASTERN SAN BERNARDINO
COUNTY AND ALL OF MOHAVE COUNTY.

AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES THE AREA FRIDAY STRONG WINDS WILL
OCCUR ACROSS THE MOJAVE DESERT. SOUTHWEST TO WEST WINDS WITH
GUSTS TO OVER 60 MPH ARE POSSIBLE. AREAS OF BLOWING SAND AND DUST
ARE LIKELY WITH THESE WINDS.

$$

 

[BillTIZ]

More on Winds... check out the video.
http://www.greenbird.co.uk/

On the morning of March 26th, 2009 on the 'dry' Lake Ivanpah, The
Greenbird - driven by British engineer Richard Jenkins - smashed the
world land speed record for wind powered vehicles.

The Greenbird clocked 126.1 mph (202.9 km/h) , eclipsing the old,
American held, record of 116 mph, set by Bob Schumacher in the Iron
Duck in March 1999 at the same location.

Lot's of soaring technology in the design of this incredible machine.