Post by capttom on Dec 26, 2019 17:28:45 GMT
I'm surprised how many emails and calls when strong winds are forecast. Anxious fliers are, it seems, concerned about winds. Some are concerned about safety. Some are concerned about their feelings if the ride is bumpy. From a pilot’s point of view, that concern is hard to understand.
First, if you want to fly a kite, since the kite has no power of its own, you need a windy day. Even so, to get the kite aloft, you may have to run, towing the kite by its string, to get it into the air.
When the Wright brothers were ready to test their glider, Wilbur researched U.S. Weather Bureau records to find where strong winds were commonplace. Wind was so important to them that they went all the way from their home in Ohio to Kitty Hawk, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Using wind alone, the Wright Brothers flew one of their gliders at Kitty Hawk in October of 1900 with Wilbur aboard.
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They returned to Kitty Hawk in 1901 and 1902 for more testing.
Their first successful powered flight was December 17, 1903, with the benefit of a 27 miles per hour wind. Their “runway” was a 6-foot rail.
In 1904, the brothers tried flying near their home in Ohio. Lacking the strong winds they had enjoyed at Kitty Hawk, they needed to use a longer rail to accelerate their flying machine to a higher speed to get it into the air.
The point is, if you are going to fly a kite or a plane, enough air must flow across its surface to keep it in the air. So if you are a kite flier or an airplane flier, you know wind is your friend. If you have no wind, the plane must accelerate to a speed at which the plane will fly using engine power alone. But with a strong wind, since some of the air flow needed to fly is provided by nature, it is easier to takeoff or to land.
For example, if an airplane can fly with 100 miles per hour air flowing by the wing, the plane is accelerated until there is 115 miles per hour of air flowing by the wing before leaving the ground as a safety margin. Where does that 115 miles per hour of air flow come from? If there is no wind, it all has to be produced by the engines. But if there is, as the Wright Brothers had, a 27 miles per hour wind, the plane needs to accelerate to only 88 miles per hour. This means less runway is needed for takeoff. If there are strong winds during landing, less runway is needed for slowing the plane down after landing.
So, once again. If you are a kite flier or an airplane flier, wind is your friend.
But an anxious flier may have a different view. When there are strong winds, as the wind goes across the surface of the earth, the airflow is disturbed. This disturbance causes bumps when near the ground. Though an anxious flier may know wind is helpful, that knowledge may not override the feelings caused when stress hormones are released by the amygdala, as it reacts to downward motion.
Hopefully, what I’ve offered here will help you understand wind is helpful, and that being the case, it is OK to train your mind to not react to the downward part of the up-and-down motions of the plane when the plane is near the ground in strong winds. Imagine a cartoon character on a plane when taking off or landing in strong winds. Imagine the cartoon character is feeling the up-and-down motions. Imagine the cartoon character knows the up-and-down motions cancel each other out. Imagine the cartoon character knows the motions are so small that a person watching the plane from the ground would be unable to see them. To the person on the ground, it would appear the plane is flying smoothly. Yet, when the cartoon character feels the downward part of the up-and-down motion, their amygdala reacts and releases stress hormones, which result in feelings. Link each of these imaginary images to two things: a. an oxytocin-producing memory, and b. a parasympathetic nervous system activating memory (a friend’s face, voice, and touch).
First, if you want to fly a kite, since the kite has no power of its own, you need a windy day. Even so, to get the kite aloft, you may have to run, towing the kite by its string, to get it into the air.
When the Wright brothers were ready to test their glider, Wilbur researched U.S. Weather Bureau records to find where strong winds were commonplace. Wind was so important to them that they went all the way from their home in Ohio to Kitty Hawk, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Using wind alone, the Wright Brothers flew one of their gliders at Kitty Hawk in October of 1900 with Wilbur aboard.
They returned to Kitty Hawk in 1901 and 1902 for more testing.
Their first successful powered flight was December 17, 1903, with the benefit of a 27 miles per hour wind. Their “runway” was a 6-foot rail.
In 1904, the brothers tried flying near their home in Ohio. Lacking the strong winds they had enjoyed at Kitty Hawk, they needed to use a longer rail to accelerate their flying machine to a higher speed to get it into the air.
The point is, if you are going to fly a kite or a plane, enough air must flow across its surface to keep it in the air. So if you are a kite flier or an airplane flier, you know wind is your friend. If you have no wind, the plane must accelerate to a speed at which the plane will fly using engine power alone. But with a strong wind, since some of the air flow needed to fly is provided by nature, it is easier to takeoff or to land.
For example, if an airplane can fly with 100 miles per hour air flowing by the wing, the plane is accelerated until there is 115 miles per hour of air flowing by the wing before leaving the ground as a safety margin. Where does that 115 miles per hour of air flow come from? If there is no wind, it all has to be produced by the engines. But if there is, as the Wright Brothers had, a 27 miles per hour wind, the plane needs to accelerate to only 88 miles per hour. This means less runway is needed for takeoff. If there are strong winds during landing, less runway is needed for slowing the plane down after landing.
So, once again. If you are a kite flier or an airplane flier, wind is your friend.
But an anxious flier may have a different view. When there are strong winds, as the wind goes across the surface of the earth, the airflow is disturbed. This disturbance causes bumps when near the ground. Though an anxious flier may know wind is helpful, that knowledge may not override the feelings caused when stress hormones are released by the amygdala, as it reacts to downward motion.
Hopefully, what I’ve offered here will help you understand wind is helpful, and that being the case, it is OK to train your mind to not react to the downward part of the up-and-down motions of the plane when the plane is near the ground in strong winds. Imagine a cartoon character on a plane when taking off or landing in strong winds. Imagine the cartoon character is feeling the up-and-down motions. Imagine the cartoon character knows the up-and-down motions cancel each other out. Imagine the cartoon character knows the motions are so small that a person watching the plane from the ground would be unable to see them. To the person on the ground, it would appear the plane is flying smoothly. Yet, when the cartoon character feels the downward part of the up-and-down motion, their amygdala reacts and releases stress hormones, which result in feelings. Link each of these imaginary images to two things: a. an oxytocin-producing memory, and b. a parasympathetic nervous system activating memory (a friend’s face, voice, and touch).
