Question RE: Windy gusts during landings with heavy Ac

[Guest]

Hello,Recently when using FSMeteo and PIC767 I encountered a gusty West Texas day when making an approach to KLBB. Winds were gusting at 10-25kts (not untypical for this part of TX), with a slight crosswind component. As I came out of the crab and flared at about 30ft AGL with flaps 30 and Vref pegged, the wind inevitably decided to gust hard and I wound up ballooning like crazy. Can you say, 'GO AROUND'.In a real 767, what is the proper landing and flare technique with a very gusty headwind? Thank you.

[Guest]

Well, I believe you would use flaps 25, higher autobrake setting and add 10 knots instead of five to the VREF. Actual formula for adding speed is half the steady wind component add the gust component.Greg

[Guest]

Hi Greg,pls allow a slight correction:Final APPR-SPEED(orange Speedbug) = Vref + half of the steady wind + full gust, up to a maximum of 20 kts.Rgds Klaus

[Guest HPSOV]

Its actually a lot easier to land a 767 in gusty conditions when its heavy, than when its light. If you're light (<110,000kg) you tend to get blown around a lot more, and are more likely to end up in that go around situation!Where I fly we nominate a "reference ground speed" RGS for the approach, and fly that speed instead of Vref with an addition.RGS is worked out by taking Vref and subtracting the lowest reported wind component (in this case 10kts).Lets say Vref is 135 with the wind 10-25kts.RGS will be 125kts, and Vref+5 will be 140kts.These then both become minimum speeds for the approach (remember RGS is read off the ground speed display).Using a ground speed instead of an airspeed provides you with windshear protection, should you have 25kts of headwind that quickly drops off to 10kts.Other things to consider are not making large thrust changes, as these lead to large pitch changes as well. Dont over-control the aircraft, try to "ride" through the gusts, accepting some small deviations in glideslope. However if large changes are required dont be afraid to use them!

[Guest]

Thank you HPSOV. Will print this out and keep it. It's really interesting to see how real 767 pilots such as yourself do this stuff. Thank you for your continued participation in this forum. I always enjoy the insight you provide!