Windscreen wipers

[Guest Caerdyddflyer]

To allJust out of interest, turning on the windscreen wipers on the other I was just wondering at what point to real pilots knock them off. i mean can they use them at 250knots at 10000 feet surely they would rip off with the wind speed?any ideas?Rhydian

[Guest Lenny Zaman]

Not seeing any limitations on this in the AOM.But think about it, why would you want to have your wipers on at 250KIAS? you'll be IFR if you have rain anyway so you don't need to look outside. Pilots usually turn their wipers on during ground ops, landing and takeoff (i've seen em turn them on intercepting the ILS)but as soon as they're no longer required they go of. They make a NASTY noise. But think about it. The system can hold itself in a 'crossline' airflow position. Surely it wouldn't hurt to get the wiper to work(meaning they go to 'inline' airflow and back crossline)...if they can sustain highspeed crossline(normal flight...) they should be able to do so when operated. Wether the wiper motor is gonna be affected: don't knowGreetings

[Guest Caerdyddflyer]

Cheers for the info Lenny.I thought it may be an automatic thing. For example once the aircraft goes over a certain speed, the wipers reset to park. I only ask because years ago I was driving my old banged up Nissan Sunny estate car and while going down the motorway with my wipers at full pelt and doing over 80Mph (slap on the wrist, 70 in the UK) one of them just ripped off...literally flew past my side window and hit a car behind. I'm guessing that a 737's arrangement is made of tougher stuff than my Nissan!regardsRhydian