I have an 1800 ft grass strip that has a 3% grade. There is a 50 to 75 ft
obstruction off the high end of the runway and no obstructions off the end
of the low end of the runway. Slope and obstruction is more important than
wind. I will not land downwing unless the headwind exceeds 15 knots. The
deceleration uphill and acceleration downhill is more significant than the
usual winds. Below 200 ft on approach, you have to be committed to land.
Unless you have a very high power to weight you cannot do a go around.

Jerry in NC

"Tony Cox" wrote in message
ups.com...
Here's a problem which seems to have a non-trivial solution.
At least, I've not been able to find a definitive answer to it, but
what do I know??

Suppose one wishes to land at an airport with a runway
that slopes at X degrees. The wind -- assumed to be directly
aligned with the runway -- is Y knots from the "high" end of
the runway.

Clearly, if Y is positive, one should try to land in the
"up-slope" direction to minimize one's ground roll. One
will be landing "up" and into a headwind. But what if
Y is negative? Clearly, if Y is just a few knots neg, one would
still land "up-slope", because the braking effect of rolling
out up-hill more than compensates for the higher landing
speed due to the tail wind.

If Y is negative and more substantial, which way should
one land? At some point, it makes sense to switch to the
other end of the runway -- landing downhill -- to take advantage
of the (now) headwind. But how does one establish which way
to land, assuming no clues from other traffic in the pattern? The
aim is to select a direction, given X and Y, which would result
in the smaller ground roll.

Rule of thumb responses are interesting, but better would be
a full mathematical treatment. Presumably, a proper treatment
would need to include touch-down speed too, and perhaps
gross weight as well.

Its more than an academic question for me. My home airport
has a 3 degree runway, and some local airports are even
steeper.