If an aeroplane is flying at 100mph and it enters a 120mph wind/crosswind...what happens?

Question

Just a curious question my dad asked me to find an answer on here.

Answer 1

Trevor H and Phil2 are about right but both have ignored the aerodynamic qualities of the planes fuselage.

If the wind was a tail wind it would increase the planes forward ground speed but not by 120 mph. The pilot could in this instance choose to reduce engine power and maintain his 100mph ground speed and save some fuel.

Both options are often used on international flights where the plane flies high enough to choose air flows in the stratosphere.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Wow...what a bunch of replies you will have to sort through. Well, here's a simpler one.

First of all, planes fly in the air. Boats move through the water. Both obey the same laws of physics.

A plane that is flying 100 mph through the air will, unless the engine quits, continue to fly 100 mph through the air. When it encounters a "crosswind", it might not know unless it is checking its GPS or has another way to track its speed over ground. Speed over ground, that's all that will change, period.

What pilots have to do is determine what their set or drift is (how fast they are being pushed away from their intended trackline) so they can adjust their heading to put them back "on course." If they have a 120 mph crosswind, it will be necessary to find out "from which direction." "Tailwind" normally means from the rear of the plain, "headwind" refers to a wind coming from somewhere in the direction they are headed, and "crosswind" normally refers to a wind coming from the left or right.

Assuming this is indeed a "crosswind" and not a tailwind or headwind, the pilot has to determine where it is coming from and how fast it's moving. Since your question said it was a 120 mph crosswind, I must assume that the pilot already calculated his set and drift and determined that the wind was indeed 120 mph (which he would have calculated based on the speed of his actual offset compared to his wind speed). It also means that if it were coming directly from the left or right, there would be no way to compensate for an offset greater than the speed of the plane. In such a situation, all a pilot can do is to either find a different altitude in an attempt to lose the crosswind, or failing that, set down as soon as possible and wait it out (which could be dangerous under high wind conditions) or turn the crosswind into a tailwind by turning the plane "downwind" so that the plane could navigate to an alternate airport.

So you know, 120 mph crosswinds are unusual for 100 mph planes. Sure, the Jetstream can be hundreds of miles per hour, but few Cessna's will fly high enough to get into the Jetstream. If a pilot of a 100 mph plane finds a 120 mph crosswind, they should buy a better radio or television so they can look at weather forecasts before they take off.

All the words about Vectors and such are true, but they really don't enter into the situation as you've described it. Had you said it was a 60 mph crosswind, I would have said that the pilot would have to plot a solution of speed and direction so that his ground vector was in the direction he originally intended. This, however, was impossible with the numbers you provided.

Answer 3

Any pilot here?
1. You do not "enter" a crosswind. The wind changes and you correct in accordance.
2. You may get into a windshear (two layers of wind running in different directions).
David is more or less correct with his vectors: the GROUND speed (speed in relation to the ground) of the aircraft will be the resultant of the two winds. If in opposition, the plane witll have a ground speed of -20mph (flying backward!), but the AIRSPEED (measured IN the plane) will be still 100mph.
If in the same direction, the ground speed will be 220mph, and the airspeed... 100mph.
At an angle, follow David to find the ground speed, but the airspeed will be still 100mph.
Now, if you fly and "hit" a sudden windshear of that magnitude, it will depend on the direction (as above).
Say your original wind is 0, and you fly at 100mph. All is fine.
Suddenly, you have a BACKTAIL wind of 120mph: your plane is going to get an AIRSPEED of -20mph. You DROP! (You have no more lift...) You will probably thumble as well. A nose dive with a 180º roll MAY get you the speed, if you are high enough.
I had a windshear of only 30knots on landing (approach at 70knots, stalling at 45knots, PA38). I stalled. Fortunately, I was still at 250 feet AGL. Managed to recover, but landing was a bit hard.
Imagine a 120knots?

Answer 4

Well I think bob s has it right. There seem to be a lot of kite fliers here. and the guy who came up with the vector calculations must live in an isolated environment. Wake up to the real world! as a pilot I have too say that what bob s said is spot on. When we pick up a tail wind we are told one of two things, get them there faster or if the flight is under-filled save juice.

Answer 5

The plane will get blown about a bit. But if it was a glider and the captain (proper term for a glider pilot) was well skilled the glider could stay still in the wind if its head on, if its a cross wind the glider can sometimes twist into the direction the wind is coming from

Answer 6

The pilot will have to use all his skill to get the nose of the plane into the wind, once that is done there will be no problem even if the head wind is strong enough to hold the pane at a standstill relative to the ground, the plane will remain airborne.

Answer 7

David N is right, however I would explain it as drawing a graph. If ox is the vertical axis,(forward speed in mph) and oy is the horizontal axis,(cross wind speed in mph), draw a line from point o to where the point 100 ox intersects 120 oy. This will indicate the deviation in the direction of travel of the aircraft in the cross wind.

Answer 8

David N has exactly the correct answer.

Don't listen to any of the other cr*p about hurricane force winds - aeroplanes regularly encounter such windspeeds - and higher - in the upper atmosphere.

To counter the effect of the wind, the aircraft would have to be flown towards the direction the wind was coming from at sufficient an angle so that it was blown exactly along its desired course.

Look Up the differences between heading, track and Drift!

Shame on all the answerers who "Thumbsed Up" the early answers - this guy is trying to find an answer to an interesting question and you are leading him astray - !!!!

Answer 9

David & Trevor have said it all, except perhaps to mention "ground speed" - the plane maintains its 100mph AIR speed and with a 120mph tail wind will have a 220mph GROUND speed, for instance.
.

Answer 10

If the wind was behind it would fly at a speed up to 220mph, if it was a cross wind it would be blown of course and it may crash depending on the skill of the pilot. But navigating by air is a bit like navigating at sea, and further information is required to specify the likely scenario of the circumstances described, For example a ship facing in to heavy sea can outride storm conditions. The power of the engines are another factor, and the skill of the pilot, who should be able to negate, and/or harness the power of the wind.