60k winds!

[matt_gold 1]

So, in doing the challenge where you land the Maule on the concrete platform by the observatory, I encountered my first 60k winds in game.

I really really enjoyed it. You can practically stand still and fly your plane like a kite. Great challenge, to land on such a small platform in such high winds, I had a blast.

 

Then, I entered free flight around the big island in the daytime, set to "squalls", and I kept encountering these super winds..now they are gone!

 

Does anybody know definitively what combination of altitude, (the higher the stronger I assume) geography (wind coming down the mountain in the evening and such) time of day and year, and weather setting gives us the strongest winds? What's the strongest wind you folks have ever encountered?

 

(These are the awesome things I can wish for cause it's not real and my/my passengers lives aren't actually on the line, hehehehhe)

[Great Ozzie 101]

What's the strongest wind you folks have ever encountered?

 

I have at least on one occasion experienced 60kts winds below 10'000MSL.

 

I was in an Arrow travelling between Evansville and Indianapolis. Winds @ 6000' were 60kts due to an approaching cold front (deep low)... absolutely horrid on the way down to Evansville (the groundspeed that is). Groundspeed back to Indy was fantastic :Big Grin: I remember something like 180kts on the DME.

 

Biggest problem was not the turbulence (moderate chop) but the winds at the surface and the resulting (erratic) turbulence you get with the winds interaction with the surrounding terrain. Also have to watch for exceeding the crosswind ability of the plane (running out of rudder and the nose is still not aligned with the runway)... so having a runway pretty much aligned with the general direction of the wind helps tremendously.

 

When you think of winds and terrain interaction... good thing to compare to is water in a stream / river and how obstacles (e.g. rocks) affect flow and the resulting turbulence it creates.

 

Not sure how all the above "plays out" in Hawaii weather.

 

The strongest winds (U.S.) will be from the Jetream during winter. Japan also has some brutal jetstream winds. (some pooh-pooh virtual airlines / long / 12hr flights, but can be a good thing to learn about winds aloft... a 747 flight from KSFO TO VHHH can be quite interesting... both directions). Winds in mountainous areas can be especially hazardous... absolute minimum one should fly over a mountain peak AOPA recommends minimum of 1000' agl over any peak with winds up to 20kts (I'd use at least 2000' agl). Mountain turbulence can be a very wicked thing... sometimes can be seen (standing lenticular clouds)... rotor clouds below the peaks indicate violent turbulence. Approaching a peak from the leeward (downwind) side can be fatal as the winds coming off the peak (descending air) can easily exceed the climb performance of a GA plane. Strongest winds I usually see are in the low to mid 30s.

 

Forgot to mention the Jet "latitudes" will vary... northern parts of the U.S. / lower Canada during summer and mid - lower U.S. during winter months (and there can be two jet flows). Maybe AzureWx around to give more (and mo' bettah) stats.

 

I think Larry A. does quite a bit of mountain flying in his RV-6... maybe he'll chime in as an "experienced one".

 

I just checked here: http://www.aviationw...gov/adds/winds/ It will bring up surface winds... but if you click on the drop down box (says SFC i.e.surface) and click on FL300, you will see 130+ knot winds in southern Oregon, northern Nevada and lower Idaho. Upwards of 180kts in winter is not unusual.

 

You can practically stand still and fly your plane like a kite.

 

Others have mentioned this (Ray? Ramon? Luis?)... but you can actually "fly backwards"... fun to go up on a day with strong winds, set the plane (like a C152) up for slow flight and watch you actually "backing up" over the terrain. :-)

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

You call that fun? :LMAO:

 

Best regards.

Luis