Had some scary wind shear, learned valuable lesson

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PTR4me@reddit

Terrifying, glad you're ok.

Did you bump up the speed by either half or the full gust differential?

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I was 5-10 mph higher than normal, yes. I usually don’t fly a 3 degree slope since the Ercoupe has a worse glide ratio than a hershey bar Cherokee, and this solidified why I don’t. Still trying to figure out why I would’ve on a gusty day like this 🤦‍♂️

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SirEDCaLot@reddit

There's a lesson here.

If your plane has a shit glide ratio, it can make sense to fly a steeper approach so you can make the field in case of engine failure farther into the approach. However that means stay at pattern altitude longer, and descend ABOVE the glide path not below.

As for the 12g20- that means don't increase the approach '5-10mph' it means minimum 8 knots faster. That's a good time to NOT use full flaps- you want more kinetic energy (ground speed) in the airplane so you're not relying on wind to keep you in the air.

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fly123123123@reddit

I’ve always learned to increase speed by half of the gust factor, not the entire gust factor. That’d mean 4 kts faster, not 8, which is closer to 5 mph.

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ChefT1982@reddit (OP)

Luckily, for this situation at least, my plane has no flaps!

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tomdarch@reddit

Noob question: Am I right in understanding that you typically come in steeper than 3 degrees?

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ChefT1982@reddit (OP)

Yes, I’m trying to get in the habit of coming in a fair bit steeper, given how my plane performs. Don’t want to be on a 3% 1 mile final and lose the engine, I won’t make it. I stay within glide range of the runway when in the pattern as much as possible too

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NationalLaw478@reddit

During ATP-CTP, my A320 sim instructor put a microburst off the departure end somewhere around 500-1000ft. We crashed with the stick full aft.

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Recent-Day3062@reddit

What procedure should you have used to avoid this?

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Sad-Umpire6000@reddit

I got hit by a microburst while riding my motorcycle across Nevada on US 50. There had been widely scattered, brief showers, and it was dissipating. Then the wind went from barely a light breeze to what I estimated to be 40-50 knots directly across the highway. It went from calm and clear to a few seconds later tumblweeds flying and dust so thick I couldn’t see more than 30 yards. I was being pushed off to the right, while scraping the left floorboard. I somehow got the bike stopped at the edge of the pavement. And a few seconds later it was dead calm.

I should’ve thought about it a bit more when I saw those cool-looking round bumps hanging from the bottom of the clouds. I knew what mammatus are, but I lived on the California coast where we didn’t have any convection to speak of, and I didn’t fly outside the coast and Central Valley, so it had been a point of trivia.

It was a really cool and interesting lesson - hammered home the facts on microbursts.

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tomdarch@reddit

I know I don't know much about mammatus clouds other than "don't fly around them, but I didn't know that microbursts were associated with them. I'm reading a bit now: "Unlike most clouds that form by rising air, mammatus form when cold, moisture-heavy air sinks downwards (downdrafts) into warmer air."

I associated microbursts with convective activity - blobs of air rise up, cool, moisture condenses and drops rapidly. But if I'm understanding correctly, with mammatus formation, there is a pool of cold, moist air on top of warm air, and like an upside-down lava lamp, blobs of that cold, dense air can break through and dump downwards.

That might be technically different than the microbursts in convective systems, but for a plane caught in a blob of air going rapidly down, it would have a similar effect.

For anyone who has a good grasp on the meteorology, does that sound about righ?

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acfoltzer@reddit

I'm not sure I'd describe my grasp on meteorology as "good", but your working definition of convection is too narrow here. The air masses don't have to be rising to count as convection, they just have to be moving heat around. And focusing on a single direction is too limited; if you zoom out from blobs of warm rising air in a thermal, you'll see cool air sinking to replace it around the outside. That's why on a good thermal day, hitting brief sink is often an indication that you're about to enter a thermal.

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Weasel474@reddit

Coming into ANC on a clear, calm, sunny day, we got caught in a rotor. 50,000 lbs below max weight, full power, clean, and max climb, and our 737 was still going down at 500-700 FPM for a bit. Nature is strong.

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mkosmo@reddit

Sometimes you just don't have the power, physics, or reality to survive an incident.

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anotherstevest@reddit

Anytime you are landing in something small (like a Taylorcraft) on runway 26 at BDU (Boulder CO) with a strong west wind it's good to be close to pattern altitude on short final as it's like riding an elevator down to the runway. It also has lowering elevation as you go east from the end of the runway. In years past, when I was based there, a common activity was to hang out at the FBO and watch the aircraft drop below runway altitude and climb back up to it. I admit to having had to do that myself on more than one occasion during my training.

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zoro____x@reddit

That go-around probably taught more than 29 smooth landings even could.

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tomdarch@reddit

I recently had a coyote run out on a runway as I was rounding out. It was nice to confirm that I sort of have a grasp on go arounds when it matters. (Plenty to improve on, but it felt like I did the basics well.)

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aFineMoose@reddit

Every now and then I’ll be asked if anything scares me while flying. I’ll think, and respond, “I don’t fear anything. I have a great appreciation and respect for everything.” But then I remember wind shear. And I’m like, “Oh wait, yeah, wind shear. I fear wind shear.”

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Grand_Raccoon0923@reddit

I had a downdraft like that in Thailand flying a Beech 1900. I didn’t have enough power to go around and ended up landing with the power to the fire wall.

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non-descript_com@reddit

Usually you use the ground effect over the runway... But seriously, well done recovering. As a low time pilot having had a bad expense with LLWS, I can attest to the "holy carp" reaction and needing a minute to reset the nerves.

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vARROWHEAD@reddit

Good decision making. Leaving the area for a bit was a good call before attempting another approach

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Impossible-Meet1724@reddit

Lucky there wasn't a light pole and bakery truck on short finals

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FlatulousStanko@reddit

"Too soon?"

Nah, just too low.

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vARROWHEAD@reddit

“To low croissant”

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Pol_Potamus@reddit

Wi?

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Live-Juggernaut-221@reddit

Missed opportunity for free bearclaws

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Sand0rf@reddit

I had the same thing a couple of years back at Koblenz (EDRK) in Germany. Airport is situated on a hill top and there was a strong wind right down the runway causing a major downdraft on final. Also sank below the threshold and did a go-around. Departure had a massive updraft so I was climbing like a rocket.

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MaybeBowtie@reddit

I think there’s wind shear across the entirety of the U.S. right now. I opened for flight and the entire mainland was multiple layers of orange. I cancelled a flight today because of the wind shear

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ahappywaterheater@reddit

I like having a steeper glide path on days with stronger headwinds. Keeps me within gliding distance.

Glad you’re okay.

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The_Arsonist1324@reddit

Man... That's scary. Glad you're okay

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PuzzleheadedDuty8866@reddit

Glad you’re ok! Wind shear is no joke. In my airplane we have slightly different go around procedure (wind shear recovery) where we go max power and pitch the nose higher than normal to max perform a climb. Usually we monitor with a reference ground speed and then cues are big jumps in airspeed or glidepath that are uncommanded.

Not sure if this is helpful or if your ercoupe has similar recommendations.

Did you make a pirep to warn others?

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rFlyingTower@reddit

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:

Was out getting some windy weather practice, was a 12g20 day at my local field but right down the runway mostly, within my personal minimums. Was coming in to land when the wind shifted direction, and I sank like a rock. Gave it all the beans and did a go around, but man did it feel like I got low. Got back up to pattern altitude, decided to leave the pattern to calm my nerves before I tried again. Came back and came in with a steeper approach and landed uneventfully. Ran the track log through FlySto and this is the view of the track from the go-around… BELOW the level of the runway by the time the plane decided to climb. Never flying such a low approach path again in my Ercoupe.

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