Mooney Tailwind Tolerance

[Z W]

I was trained that wind less than 5 knots on the AWOS is "no wind" for purposes of tailwind component, meaning two things at an uncontrolled field - you can use whatever runway you want, and also, you better consider the increased risk that anyone else may be using whatever runway they want.  I will still usually take the headwind landing or departure myself, as long as it's a reasonable option.

I've done landings with up to 10 knots of tailwind at mountain strips like Los Alamos, NM (KLAM) that are one-way.  It feels like landing at high density altitude - the ground is going by much faster - but otherwise is manageable.  Fly the airspeed indicator, make sure you have plenty of runway, and you'll be OK.

Be careful of a quartering, gusting tailwind in a Mooney.  There are certain conditions that make it want to fish-tail and veer back and forth with the gusts in a way I've never seen it do with a headwind.  Like any landing, you have to stay on the rudder and remember the plane isn't done flying until it's tied down on the ramp.  This is the main reason I avoid tailwind landings whenever possible.  It can also happen in direct crosswinds that are shifting from headwind to tailwind component.  You'll know it happened when you have an extra squirrely landing and you look out the window and the windsock says you just landed with a quartering tailwind, despite the AWOS saying something else.

[Bartman]

I had to make this decision on landing just yesterday.  AWOS was reporting variable winds and the wind socks showed winds nearly directly across the runway, but that was not the case.  When I set up and turned final for 24 it was obvious that we had a very significant tailwind at about 800 ft and a glance at the GPS confirmed we were zipping along at 120 kts.  We aborted and turned around, but still had a challenging approach. 

0A9 is at the base of the Appalachian Mountains and Rwy 6 has rising terrain so I prefer 24, but the winds often have different directions at different altitudes and proximity to the mountains, so sometimes you take what you get and make a game time decision. 

[Vance Harral]

3 hours ago, Bartman said:

but the winds often have different directions at different altitudes

Best point from this good post.  The crab angle and ground speeds you observe leading up to landing are not necessarily indicative of the wind you'll experience in the flare.  That doesn't mean you should wait until the last second for a go-around if you don't like what you're seeing.  But there's also nothing wrong with continuing an approach from 400' AGL to 100' AGL to see if the winds are more favorable closer to the ground.

[Bartman]

BTW… 0A9 is where the plane carrying racing star, Dale Earnhardt Jr crashed a few years ago. I landed just before them on runway 24 and told my wife despite what the ASOS is reporting, we have a tailwind.  20 minutes later and probably five minutes after we left the airport, they came straight in on runway 24 and not knowing they had a tailwind they were unable to land, unable to take back off after touching down, and overran the other end.

[A64Pilot]

On 9/1/2024 at 11:18 PM, Vance Harral said:

Nothing wrong with that, but let me present you with a real-life scenario that requires some challenging ADM.

It's a busy day at uncontrolled KLMO (which it nearly always is).  You arrive at the airport the morning after your ski trip, listen to the AWOS, and winds are 160 at 5 knots, technically favoring runway 11 with a 3-knot headwind component.  You notice the pattern is full of aircraft using Runway 29.  Per your personal minimums, you broadcast on the CTAF, "Mooney is taxiing for runway 11".  Someone responds, "Traffic is using 29".  You call again that you're taxiing for 11, and no one responds.  You key up again from the runup area with, "Anyone want to switch runway direction?", and someone finally takes pity on you and says, "per local procedures, Runway 29 is favored in light winds" (there's an actual reason for this, but no explanation is offered to you on the CTAF).

How long will you sit in the runup area for Runway 11 waiting for reasonable spacing to take off, or for the winds to change?  5 minutes?  10?  30?

This is not a made-up scenario, it's real life at my home 'drome.  How principled are you?  Do you know if you can safely take off from the 4800' runway in your airplane, on that day, at your weight?

That describes Deland, an uncontrolled but exceedingly busy airport with the jump planes using one runway regardless of wind so they can load without taxi time, and students from Daytona always use the same but different runway because I’m sure that’s what they were taught, even with a significant tailwind. It’s the preferred light wind runway, I think for noise avoidance.

It’s not so bad in the Mooney, but when I go over there in the C-140 I don’t like tailwinds in a light taildragger.

However it’s like anything else, to a great extent you can get used to most anything, Ag planes almost always land with a tailwind, the reason is to not waste time taxiing. They need and want the headwind for takeoffs because often the are literally twice as heavy on takeoff than they are on landing, most often a loaded Ag plane is a real pig, really struggles to fly. Ag planes rarely fly in significant winds though unless spreading fertilizer or something because high winds drift your spray where you don’t want it, called off target application, so they usually don’t land with high tailwinds.

GAMA is nothing but an Association, it’s not regulatory in any respect, until mid 2000’s I think Thrush wasn’t even a GAMA member for example.

Having charts up to 10 kts of wind isn’t in my opinion saying 10 kts of tailwind is acceptable, merely arming you with the data if like the one way strip example you have no other choice.

Long time ago when I was in the AH-64 transition I was told anything that flies, lands and takeoffs into the wind.

Wind limitations for the AH-64 whether tail or cross are 45 kts, but they do better facing into the wind