Wind

Spoke to a colleague who went to Salzburg couple of weeks ago, airport closed and all equipment cleared off the apron as the wind gusted to 83 kts!

At those speeds even taxiing is a problem. Ugh.

I’ve had colleagues who’ve been approaching an airport in the Plain States during a big storm only to hear tower announce they are leaving the tower due to an inbound tornado. Sayonara and good luck. 🙂

I was there too Moondance, we had a 3hr slot delay due to the closure, it was still gusting 45kts when we arrived, the METAR when we arrived in the crew room was showing 55kts Gusting 70, that’s a little sporty 🙂
Just in limits again tonight, wind was 270/30G45, and what with some Cb’s hanging around it made an interesting 10 minutes. We can’t have it too calm, that’s far too boring 😉

I don’t think (but I could be wrong) an airport can shutdown a runway due to excessive wind

Spoke to a colleague who went to Salzburg couple of weeks ago, airport closed and all equipment cleared off the apron as the wind gusted to 83 kts!

Reminds me of several occasions!
We went into Jersey with an atr 72 on one occasion, landing just before a front came through. Got on stand just as it hit. We got the bar on the front with the tractor attached as they did in those days. Still had to keep the punters on board as it wasn’t safe to disembark. A/c was twitching all over the place.
Not as bad as turning on to long finals at LGW too close behind something a bit bigger, like hitting a brick wall. Yes I did head butt a bulkhead.

I remember taking off from the old Kai Tak airport during a Typhoon, which I thought was quite brave, but it was CX, so I guess the pilots are used to the odd typhoon here & there.

The aircraft was pushed sideways during the take-off run on the runway.

During climb-out, we were buffeted in all directions. I did not enjoy that.

All ground ops stop at around 60 knts. Well they do up here at lba 🙂

Just how windy does it have to be for a runway to shut and planes are unable to land?

Are there set limits or what?

There must be some guidelines set for airports to follow. Without input from airlines or pilots they’ll automatically switch runways so some wind speed must be dictating those changes. I do know that input from pilots can effect runway usage if they complain of too high a tailwind or start asking for a more suitable runway.

I don’t think (but I could be wrong) an airport can shutdown a runway due to excessive wind. If someone wants to try it they can’t really deny them a landing or takeoff clearance as long as it’s a reasonable request (ie a 30 knot headwind and not a 30 knot tailwind).

Wind

As Deano said a number of things come into this.

1.The aircraft will have a crosswind Limit
2.Taxying limit which has been stated as 50kts could be the same for a number of aircraft.
3. A door limiting speed for opening depending on the type of aircraft.
To name one or two, cargo aircraft with an upwards swing door
The Shorts 360 has a lower limit due to the passenger door opens to 90 degrees from the fuselage, this does depend on how the aircraft parks as well.
Some aircraft might have low taxying speeds due to the type of nose wheel steering.
It does seem at times pilots do get caught out due to the forecast being lighter than when the aircraft is on approach as seen in a number of forums pictures of aircraft trying to arrive in strong crosswinds,

Normally it’s a restriction which is aircraft specific. Ours is 50kts on the ground for us to not operate, and the crosswind limit for wet & dry runways is 32kts.
Coming back into EXT last night was hmm, “interesting”, wind was 280/30G47, the passengers loved it 😉

I dont think an airport authority will close a runway just because of wind, they may close it if there is danger of debry getting onto it.

Airlines themselves will have certain restrictions on what weather their planes can land varying from airline to airline or aircraft to aircraft.