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Originally Posted by dmorrison
I had to do this in the C141 aircraft I flew in the military. We had a demonstrated crosswind limit of 32kts. We were landing at Lajes in the Azores. The winds were 50kts perpendicular to the runway. BUT we had nowhere else to go. Santa Maria, the only other airport in the Azores had the same wind and we did not have the fuel to go all the way to Portugal, the nearest land. So we landed, actually wreslted the aircraft to the ground. One of the limitations to the demonstrated crosswind is the rudders abiltiy to rotate the nose to align with the runway. On my aircraft winds above 30 kts. I will have full rudder in and the aircraft will not be completely aligned. We run out of control input.
Dave
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Dave -- that's funny... we deployed to Lajes for the war, and though I didn't make that trip, I heard all about the winds! All the flight line vehicles have streamers on the antenna to indicate which was the wind is blowing. During the in-briefing, my colleagues were all warned to always park INTO the wind or they'd be sure to lose a door. The first day, a youg crew chief parked with the wind, and the wind ripped the door off its hinges. They quit tethering our tankers overnight; it was damaging the gear too much. They said it was easier to let the plane "walk" a few feet overnight and just reposition it later.
Crazy... that is some serious wind! I remember watching B-52s land in crosswinds; that gear setup they use for that purpose is really neat.
Chris