Winds 320 at 3, gusts to 18

We were flying into Prairie du Chien, WI (PDC) today, for brunch at
the casino after picking up our son's girlfriend in Davenport, IA
(DVN) for her very first airplane ride, ever, and I was taxiing out
for departure, when PDC's AWOS reported this somewhat bizarre wind
reading.

That's a new record for us, as I believe the minimum airspeed
registered by an AWOS is 3 knots -- but with gusts to 18? We
actually both did a "Say what?" into the intercom, and we listened to
the whole thing again. Then, within a minute, the AWOS was reporting
"Winds calm", which just made the report even more unusual.

The weather today was unusual in other ways, too. When we departed
Iowa City at a bit past noon, the temperature was 85. When we landed
in PDC, the temperature was 70, and we all wished that we weren't
wearing shorts. Quite a cold front had passed, obviously, and the
first taste of autumn was in the air -- yet there was no precipitation
associated with any of this.

Earlier, our weather briefer even got a chuckle out of the winds aloft
forecast, as each reporting station along the route of flight was
predicting an entirely different set of winds down low. Dubuque, Des
Moines, Quad Cities and Cedar Rapids were all reporting winds that
were radically different at 3000 and 6000 feet. At 9000 feet they all
agreed on a generally westerly component.

Luckily, our son's girlfriend's ride went well. She took little
notice of the mild turbulence down low, and she seemed to truly enjoy
swooping and wheeling over the Mighty Mississippi. He may have found
a keeper!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:52:02 -0700, Jay Honeck wrote:

We were flying into Prairie du Chien, WI (PDC) today, for brunch at
the casino after picking up our son's girlfriend in Davenport, IA
(DVN) for her very first airplane ride, ever, and I was taxiing out
for departure, when PDC's AWOS reported this somewhat bizarre wind
reading.

That's a new record for us, as I believe the minimum airspeed
registered by an AWOS is 3 knots -- but with gusts to 18? We
actually both did a "Say what?" into the intercom, and we listened to
the whole thing again. Then, within a minute, the AWOS was reporting
"Winds calm", which just made the report even more unusual.

We've had a similar thing happen at my home field. The medevac helicopters
occasionally land near the office where the anemometer for the SuperUnicom is
mounted. The rotor wash will blow the thing around, and the winds will taken a
20 knot jump for a short time. Actually had to reassure a guy inbound that the
winds over the runway WEREN'T as strong as the robot was reporting....

Ron Wanttaja

On Sep 9, 8:52 pm, Jay Honeck wrote:
We were flying into Prairie du Chien, WI (PDC) today, for brunch at
the casino after picking up our son's girlfriend in Davenport, IA
(DVN) for her very first airplane ride, ever, and I was taxiing out
for departure, when PDC's AWOS reported this somewhat bizarre wind
reading.

That's a new record for us, as I believe the minimum airspeed
registered by an AWOS is 3 knots -- but with gusts to 18? We
actually both did a "Say what?" into the intercom, and we listened to
the whole thing again. Then, within a minute, the AWOS was reporting
"Winds calm", which just made the report even more unusual.

Jay,

It could have been a dust devil that hit the AWOS. It's easy to have
an 18mph gust inside a dust devil while the actual winds are only 3
knots... dust devils form best in light winds since thermals have a
change to build up more.

Dean

Finish the story. Did Joe get to fly?

Nope. I let him fly the flight before this one (and, wow, has he
become good!), but this time I let him sit in the back and snuggle his
newbie-flyer-girlfriend.

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Ron Wanttaja wrote in
:

We've had a similar thing happen at my home field. The medevac
helicopters occasionally land near the office where the anemometer for
the SuperUnicom is mounted. The rotor wash will blow the thing
around, and the winds will taken a 20 knot jump for a short time.
Actually had to reassure a guy inbound that the winds over the runway
WEREN'T as strong as the robot was reporting....

Ron Wanttaja


At the airport I am based at in Western Alaska, we get DC-6's landing and
taking off. It's a gravel runway that can be quite dusty when it hasn't
rained for a couple days. If you listen to the ASOS when a 6 takes off, it
will go from reporting 10+ miles of vis down to 1/4 mile and then slowly
come back up to 10+ just from the dust kicked up.

Luckily, our son's girlfriend's ride went well. She took little notice of
the mild turbulence down low, and she seemed to truly enjoy swooping and
wheeling over the Mighty Mississippi. He may have found a keeper!


"A keeper?"

....and after that little (OSH) talk I had with Joe about the benefits of
catch-and-release!


Paul :-)

"A keeper?"

...and after that little (OSH) talk I had with Joe about the benefits of
catch-and-release!

Well, at 17 a "keeper" means you make it till Thanksgiving...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"