Amazing Wind Shear Today

Didja consider dropping down some to see if got any better?

mike regish

"Ken Reed" wrote in message
...
The wind was predicted to be howling -- winds
aloft were calling for 54 knots at 6000 feet!

One week ago today, returning from El Paso to Tucson at 12,000 feet I
had at times a greater than 100 kt headwind. I saw a low of a 27 kt
ground speed in my Mooney ! That leg of the flight averaged a 65 kt
ground speed (80 kt head wind).

KR

One week ago today, returning from El Paso to Tucson at 12,000 feet I
had at times a greater than 100 kt headwind. I saw a low of a 27 kt
ground speed in my Mooney ! That leg of the flight averaged a 65 kt
ground speed (80 kt head wind).

Didja consider dropping down some to see if got any better?

You don't fly much in the west, do you grin ?

12,000 was the MEA on that route (westbound). I couldn't drop down any
without canceling IFR and going VFR, and I got about 0.5 of actual
during the flight so IFR was realistically required.

KR

Ken Reed wrote in message ...
The wind was predicted to be howling -- winds
aloft were calling for 54 knots at 6000 feet!

One week ago today, returning from El Paso to Tucson at 12,000 feet I
had at times a greater than 100 kt headwind. I saw a low of a 27 kt
ground speed in my Mooney ! That leg of the flight averaged a 65 kt
ground speed (80 kt head wind).

Ouch! That's brutal! Nothing worse than flying and watching the
semis pass you on the interstate below.

-Nathan

Ouch! That's brutal! Nothing worse than flying and watching the
semis pass you on the interstate below.

-Nathan

You should try flying something small in the Northern Territory in Australia
where there are no speed limits on the trucks and road trains away from the
towns and schools!

You can't keep up to them with a tailwind!

Peter

I was driving over the mountain here in Wales one night during
rather high winds...I couldn't get my Ford Fiesta (still air top speed
90mph) to go over 40mph. I didn't try turning round and going the
other way! :-)

Paul

"Nathan Young" wrote in message
om...
Ken Reed wrote in message
...
I saw a low of a 27 kt
ground speed in my Mooney !

Ouch! That's brutal! Nothing worse than flying and watching the
semis pass you on the interstate below.

Jay Honeck wrote:
...

Our local AWOS was calling the wind 180 at 13, gusts to 21 -- ...

As we passed through 500 feet AGL, we experienced some moderate turbulence,
followed by some really "hinky" air -- you know, the kind that lifts first
one wing sharply, then the other? ...snip...
Then, the most amazing thing happened. Our ground speed, which had been an
anemic 90 knots or so climbing out in a shallow "cruise climb", suddenly
accelerated sharply. Within seconds, we were doing 130 knots climbing on
the SAME HEADING that had given us a headwind just moments earlier!

Interestingly, the air instantly became silky-smooth, with hand's off flight
producing an absolutely rock-solid heading. As we leveled off at 5500
feet, our ground speed rapidly climbed through 170 knots, meaning that we
had a solid 30 knot tailwind, heading South. ...snip...

You were just a victim of a rather strong high to the south, and an
extremely deep low in Quebec (968 mb, or so). If the air was as laminar
as some posters suggest, then the effect of ground friction is much
enhanced, and you get that "light southwest" wind at the surface,
backing and strengthening significantly above 3000 feet.

The pressure gradient on the weather charts easily supports the winds
you experienced.

Peter Duniho wrote:
*"R. Hubbell" wrote in message
news:Badyb.12188$ZE1.9049@fed1read04...
Why would you want a tow to where lenticulars clouds have formed?

Two words: mountain wave. *


Formation of the mountain waves relies on several conditions. The
atmosphere is usually stable and an inversion may exist. The wind needs
to be blowing almost constantly within 30 degrees of perpendicular to
the barrier at a minimum speed of about 20 to 25 knots at the
ridgeline. Wind speed needs to also increase uniformly with height and
remain in the same direction. Wave crests can be upwind or downwind
from the range and their amplitude seems to vary with the vertical
stability of the flow. The crests of the waves may, (depending on the
air having sufficient moisture content), be identified by the formation
of lenticular clouds. Mountain waves can even extend into the
stratosphere and become more pronounced as height increases. I remember
reading somewhere of U2 pilots reportedly experiencing mountain waves
at 60,000 feet!!. In Australia, mountain waves are commonly experienced
over and to the lee of mountain ranges in the southeast of the
continent. They also often appear in the strong westerly wind flows our
east coast experiences in late winter and early spring. We definately
had some this year in mid-August for periods of up to 3 &4 5 days at a
time!
MQD_117.3


--
mqd_117.3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Njcyb.362928$Fm2.362681@attbi_s04...
Again, the air was smooth as glass, however. It's hard to envision an air
flow that could cause such severe wind shear, yet not also cause moderate
to
severe turbulence.

Never seen anything quite like it.

I did a few months ago when I was going to fly for breakfast to a nearby
airport. The wind at ground level was mild (5-10 or so) and I climbed
through some light turbulence to get to 1k agl where it was 'smooth as
glass'. I looked at my airspeed and it was reading normal (~90mph) but I
glanced at my GPS and it's showing 40mph ground speed. After deciding that
my GPS was actually working correctly, I did a 180 and headed back to my
home airport with the GPS reading 140mph ground speed. While in the pattern
for landing, I ran into the light turbulence again. About 20 feet above
touchdown, I hit the windshear! Came down a little bit hard when the
headwind quit...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Njcyb.362928$Fm2.362681@attbi_s04...
As we passed through 500 feet AGL, we experienced some moderate
turbulence,
followed by some really "hinky" air -- you know, the kind that lifts first
one wing sharply, then the other? It's an almost uncontrolled feeling,
where you really just kind of keep things pointed in the right direction
as
you climb through it.

Then, the most amazing thing happened. Our ground speed, which had been
an
anemic 90 knots or so climbing out in a shallow "cruise climb", suddenly
accelerated sharply. Within seconds, we were doing 130 knots climbing on
the SAME HEADING that had given us a headwind just moments earlier!

Nearly the same experience a couple years ago. I timed a ground speed
of 155 knots while indicating 85 -- in a Cessna 150. When I called the tower
they reported "winds light and variable" and cleared me straight in from my
position and heading. I hit the turbulence at about 1,400 AGL and SURPRISE!
before I could react, the airplane zoomed back up through the lumpy air. It
took three tries to punch down through the shear. I landed in calm air and
by the the time I had the airplance tied down the surface winds were 30+ and
gusting.

We had something like this back in September in No. California.
Several of us flew from the Sacramento area to Oceano, a little over
200 nm. We had a 25-30kt headwind all the way down...but like Jay,
smooth as glass, even crossing the 1000-2000 foot hills from the
Central Valley to the coast. Very strange; we were all braced for
moderate turbulence over the Coast Range.

Of course, the very next day on the return trip we had *another*
headwind, but a more normal few knots.