G-G's plane aborts landing, turns back
 

From NEWS.COM.AU:

When it says her plane, does that just mean one of the RAAF BBJ's?

I think so, the article mentioned it was a Airforce B737.

50 knot cross wind?
 

Did they really attempt landings with 50 knot cross winds? I wonder what Air Force One would have done.

With 50kt gusting crosswinds, one would think they would indeed be shaken in a literal sense...

If indeed they were 50kt crosswinds, I'm astounded they even made an attempt at landing, let alone 3!

Mick

Slightly o/t but I was on an NZ flight from NZWN to NZAA a couple of weeks back and the New Zealand GG was on board.

We were advised on arrival that "there was no airbridge available and we will have to await air stairs".

Subsequently discovered that this was because GG's car was parked airside alongside the a/c. :rolleyes:

Depends how much of it was gust factor - the NG has a max crosswind of 35kts so if there was a gust factor of 10-15kts it would be worth a shot for them.

It must have been fairly close to give it another 2 shots.

Fair enough Adam, but when determining max crosswind, gust factor MUST be taken into account. Not much good when you're just touching down and that 50kt gust hits you, sending you off the runway. You're really up **** creek then.

Mick

It depends on exactly how much of that 50knots was actually considered cross-wind.

50knots at around 42 degrees off runway heading or better would mean only 35knots of cross-wind or less at the strongest gust.

I think they mean "Our Plane" not "Her Plane".

YSNF 190500Z 20024G40KT 6000 -SHRA FEW009 BKN013 15/12 Q1008

90 degrees on 11/29. 04/22 isn't available for a 737.

40kt of crosswind.

Are the RAAF BBJ pilots permitted to operate outside the 35kt envelope?

Well aware of that Nick. I've done enough crosswind landings to understand, however, going by the bare facts that we are provided with in the story, you can only assume it's all crosswind.

Mick

Mick wasn't being critical of your knowledge, was more pointing out that the article mentioned 50 knot crosswinds but technically the crosswind may not have actually been 50 knots.