We were flying some AOA software tests last week and had a camera installed to record the standby airspeed indicator along with the normal forward view. My home base is a tree canyon close to the Gulf Coast 5 miles east of Eglin AFB in the Florida Panhandle. Winds were light on the surface (80’ MSL), variable around 090 degrees or so at takeoff, but I encountered over 30kts at pattern altitude. As I climbed through about 3500’ MSL, winds dropped off to light and variable. This abrupt shift in velocity in such a small altitude band meant the chance for wind shear would be high during RTB, and sure enough, it was: https://youtu.be/0RiB6_8bx3c
The important thing to note is how rapidly the bottom dropped out in the transition and flare. Stable is a relative term under these conditions in a light plane. I was flying a slight fast approach (high rate beeps of the tone) and transitioning to ONSPEED during transition to landing. The AOA tone provided good SA throughout, but it was sporty. If 15 kts of rapid shift is “severe” wind shear, this event was close. If shear results in a rapid loss of airspeed, it’s called “performance decreasing” and if it causes a rapid increase in airspeed, it’s called “performance increasing.” The recent Van’s EAA webinaire addressed this and I’d recommend it to anyone that hasn’t watched it. If you’d like more info on our AOA work, visit our site at http://www.flyonspeed.org
Fly safe,
Vac
The important thing to note is how rapidly the bottom dropped out in the transition and flare. Stable is a relative term under these conditions in a light plane. I was flying a slight fast approach (high rate beeps of the tone) and transitioning to ONSPEED during transition to landing. The AOA tone provided good SA throughout, but it was sporty. If 15 kts of rapid shift is “severe” wind shear, this event was close. If shear results in a rapid loss of airspeed, it’s called “performance decreasing” and if it causes a rapid increase in airspeed, it’s called “performance increasing.” The recent Van’s EAA webinaire addressed this and I’d recommend it to anyone that hasn’t watched it. If you’d like more info on our AOA work, visit our site at http://www.flyonspeed.org
Fly safe,
Vac
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