Amazing Wind Shear Today

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

the wind that produces "lennies" has gone laminar.. it's a smooth flow well
above the ridge tops.. the turbulent air is down low.. normally on the
downwind side.. the rotor.. the "wave" that forms above is smooth.. sine
wave type.. and the upward part of the sine wave is where the lift is.. our
in front of the lennie..

The ones we were watching today were about 25nm away.. normally we can tow
over to the lower part of the Spring Mountain Range, and get into lower
ridge lift and work up into the lenticular flow on the upper peak.... but
the winds that were hitting the upper (northern) end of the ridge did not
come far enough south.

BT

"R. Hubbell" wrote in message
news:Badyb.12188$ZE1.9049@fed1read04...
On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 18:57:49 -0800
"BTIZ" wrote:

the wind had gone "laminar" and you live in the flat lands..

we had light and variable all day on the ground.. winds at 6000ft (first
altitude forecast) was 200/6 at 9000 they were 250/25 and stayed that
way
all the way to FL300, there were wonder "stacked lennies" on local Mt
Charleston all day long.. (Mt Charleston tops out above 10K

not much lift in the local area.. some very weak thermals down low.. not
really workable.. the lennies were to far away to be towed to.. and the
local 8000ft ridge was not producing ridge lift..


Why would you want a tow to where lenticulars clouds have formed? I
thought
lenticulars are a sign of laminar flow, not turbulent flow. Or are the
lenticulars just the sign post to tell you that there is lots of wind and
there should be some lift near where there are lenticular clouds?

We get lenticulars here all the time, sometimes they march right out to
the Channel Islands. It's a fabulous sight to see. Although it'll
mean a bumpy ride for sure.


R. Hubbell


BT

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Njcyb.362928$Fm2.362681@attbi_s04...
We flew to Rantoul, IL today -- home of the Chanute Air Museum, on the
site
of the former Chanute Air Force Base. The wind was predicted to be
howling -- winds aloft were calling for 54 knots at 6000 feet! -- but
the
sun was shining, and we were enjoying our first Saturday off since
last
Oshkosh. So off to Rantoul we went.

Our local AWOS was calling the wind 180 at 13, gusts to 21 -- strong,
but
right down one of our three runways. Takeoff was a non-event, and the
cool
temperatures meant we were soon climbing out at 1200+ fpm, even with
84
gallons and four aboard.

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!

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. As we passed Muscatine,
the
smoke from the power plant clearly showed a wind out of the South, yet
at
5500 feet we were riding a strong tailwind from the North.

On the way home, Mary stayed down below 3000 feet, where the headwind
(it
was no longer out of the South down low, dang it) was considerably
less.
We
still dragged home at 117 knots, meaning we were bucking a 25 knot
headwind.
The one time ATC asked us to climb to 3500 for radar coverage, we
instantly
lost 25 knots in ground speed!

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

"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.

Wasn't that fun? I went up last night and did 4 instrument approaches in
the Archer. Outbound for the procedure turn at CWA I slowed up to 90
indicated and the ground speed showed 58. On the turn inbound for the ILS
08 it shot up to 134. We slid down the slope with about a 14 degree wind
correction and a reduced power setting of only 1500 rpms to maintain a 650
ft per minute decent. The further down the slope we got the less the wind
was so we had to keep increasing power, decreasing rate of descent and
taking out the crab. Surface winds were only about 6 knot but winds at 3000
were 240 @ 45. I suprised myself by keeping up with the changing wind and
nailing the approach right down to minimums. Winds aloft for today (Sunday)
are even higher, but surface winds are only about 9 right now.

Jim

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

Winds aloft for today (Sunday)
are even higher, but surface winds are only about 9 right now.

Yep -- just got back from Janesville, WI (JVL) a couple of hours ago. We
were doing a solid 95 knots all the way home. (That's a 45 knot headwind!)

Luckily, it was smooth.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

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

Same kind of thing in Missouri. Coming into St Louis area last night,
0 tailwind at 3500 and 30 knots at 2000.
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.



We flew to Rantoul, IL today -- home of the Chanute Air Museum, on the site
of the former Chanute Air Force Base. The wind was predicted to be
howling -- winds aloft were calling for 54 knots at 6000 feet! -- but the
sun was shining, and we were enjoying our first Saturday off since last
Oshkosh. So off to Rantoul we went.

Our local AWOS was calling the wind 180 at 13, gusts to 21 -- strong, but
right down one of our three runways. Takeoff was a non-event, and the cool
temperatures meant we were soon climbing out at 1200+ fpm, even with 84
gallons and four aboard.

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!

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. As we passed Muscatine, the
smoke from the power plant clearly showed a wind out of the South, yet at
5500 feet we were riding a strong tailwind from the North.

On the way home, Mary stayed down below 3000 feet, where the headwind (it
was no longer out of the South down low, dang it) was considerably less. We
still dragged home at 117 knots, meaning we were bucking a 25 knot headwind.
The one time ATC asked us to climb to 3500 for radar coverage, we instantly
lost 25 knots in ground speed!

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.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Njcyb.362928$Fm2.362681@attbi_s04...
We flew to Rantoul, IL today -- home of the Chanute Air Museum, on the
site
of the former Chanute Air Force Base. The wind was predicted to be
howling -- winds aloft were calling for 54 knots at 6000 feet! -- but the
sun was shining, and we were enjoying our first Saturday off since last
Oshkosh. So off to Rantoul we went.


Saw 58 kts groundspeed going west, 142 east.

--
Frank....H