| Aircraft safety is a major concern in aviation; in | | | | always want to land and take off into the wind for |
| General Aviation, Military and Commercial Aviation, | | | | safety. |
| where passengers in airliners rely on the safe | | | | Some wind sheer experiences are well known and |
| systems and qualified pilots. Each time there is an | | | | many airports are notorious for having them. Once |
| accident or a minor incident in aviation the NTSB | | | | this is known you can adjust your flying to make up |
| looks to find out what the cause was. One of the | | | | for it by coming in a little faster or picking up a little |
| most dangerous situations in aviation besides | | | | more airspeed before taking off or climbing out to |
| mid-collisions and near misses; is wind sheer. | | | | counteract the differences. |
| The occurs win the normal relative airflow change | | | | So at some airports this is predicable that you will |
| greatly in speed or direction as you either as change | | | | have such wind currents at various times of the |
| altitude or are simply flying forward and all of a | | | | year, one serious airport in DFW, happens a lot there, |
| sudden the wind is going a different way. Most | | | | quite serious, sometimes as much as 30-40 kts |
| experienced pilots have experienced this many times | | | | difference. If you have an emergency or something |
| in their careers. In fact you may have noticed this | | | | goes wrong due to these conditions or if you come |
| phenomena yourself in a parking lot, it happens all the | | | | in too hot (faster airspeed) to counteract this on a |
| time. Have you ever observed or noticed flagpoles, | | | | short runway somewhere and something else goes |
| which are quarter mile apart. One flag is blowing one | | | | wrong, you will definitely need all the pilot skills you |
| direction and another is blowing a different direction. | | | | got. |
| Yet they should be blowing the same way right? | | | | Accidents are usually in aviation not just one thing, |
| Indeed they should, but they are not always are | | | | usually 3 or more things go wrong at once, a |
| they. Sometimes this is due to terrain and sometimes | | | | comedy of errors if you will, only there is nothing |
| it is due to buildings in the way, while other times you | | | | funny about crashing an aircraft. One or two |
| are simply witnessing the exact problem pilots | | | | problems may not even be serious, but it ought to |
| encounter when they try to fly thru such situations. | | | | wake you up when problems start and other |
| Now this if you are up high and cruising at a safe | | | | situations start going South as it is a compounding |
| speed all you feel is a little air turbulence, but when | | | | issue. Then, well when some pilot has an accident, |
| you are low and slow it is much more critical. This is | | | | the news media and everyone says how could this |
| because the air you are flying thru which is holding | | | | happen? Wind shear. What they should be saying is |
| you up all of a sudden is blowing a different direction | | | | how come it did not happen sooner? "Pilot skill" is the |
| and you cannot speed up fast enough in the new | | | | answer. The opposite of course being that of the |
| airflow to stay up there. Now you see the problem? | | | | potential eventualities which come to fruition thru |
| The is one reason that airports pay very close | | | | what we call "pilot error." Think on this in 2006. |
| attention to which way the wind is blowing as you | | | | |