Introduction

Strong wind shear is a hazard to aviation becauseit can causeturbulence and large airspeedfluctuations
and, therefore, serious control problems. It is a threat especially to aircraft operations near the ground
becauseof the limited altitude for maneuvering, particularly during the takeoff and landing phases of
flight. In this chapter, we examine wind shear and its causes.When you complete the chapter, you will
know what wind shear is and its critical values. You will also know how, why, and where it develops in
the vicinity of thunderstorms,surface-based inversions,and fronts.

WIND SHEARDEFINED
CAUSESOF WIND SHEAR
Microbursts
Frontsand Shallow Lows
Airmass Wind Shear
ElevatedStable Layers
Jet Streams
 SectionA
WINDSHEARDEFINED venient to visualize wind shear as being a hori-
zontal ninrl shear (a change in wind over a hori-
zontal distance) or vertic;al w.ind shear (a change
Wind shear was defined briefly in Chapter 8 in
in wind over a vertical distance) or a combina-
connection with fronts. Because of the critical
tion of both. Figure 11-1 shows examples of wind
nature of wind shear, we will review and refine
shear.
that definition.

A wincl slreal is actually a wind gradi-

ent. It is interpreted in the same sense Wind shear is best described as a change in wind
as a pressure gradient or temperature
direction and/or speed within a very short
gradient; that is, it is the change of
wind over a given distance. Since distance in the atmosphere.
wind is a vector, with both speed and
direction. wind shear can involve a
In diagram A, an aircraft is descending through
change in either speed or direction, or both.
air that is vertically sheared.In this particular
case,the wind increaseswith altitude with no
In aviation, wind shear is a concern in all phases
change in direction. Since the aircraft is flying
of flight. When considering its causes, it is con-
into the wind, it experiencesa decreasein head-

200
c)
c)
5
c)
15 1' "n" n
f
.=

.:g; 2 Knots

Distance

F i g u r e 1 1 - 1 - D i a g r a mA .
A n a i r c r a f td e s c e n d st o
l a n dt h r o u g ha l a y e ro f
v e r t i c a lw i n d s h e a r .T h e
a r r o w so n t h e l e f t i n d i c a t e
t h e w i n d s a t d i f f e r e n ta l t i -
t u d e s .D i a g r a mB . A n a i r -
c r a f t i s i n l e v e lf l i g h t a s i t
p a s s e st h r o u g h a r e g i o n
o f h o r i z o n t aw l ind shear.
 WIND SHEAR

wind as it descends.In this example,the vertical Wind shear below 2,000 feet AGL along the final
wind shearis 30 knots per 300 feet (10 knots per approach path or along the takeoff and initial
100 feet). climbout path is known as low-lcvel wind shear
{LLWS). The influences of wind shear on aircraft
In diagram B of figure 11-1, an aircraft is in level performance during landing and takeoff are well
flight toward a point where the wind direction known. If the pilot of an aircraft encounters wind
changes180'. As you will see,this is the type of shear on approach and fails to adjust for a sudden
pattern expectedwhen penetrating a microburst. decreasing headwind or increasing tailwind, the
We must be careful in evaluatingthe shearin this airspeed will decrease and the aircraft may
situation. The difference in undershoot the landing
wind speeds (zero) along the .,r",
a due to loss of lift.
flight path is misleading If the wind direction changesover a given Similarly, a suddenly
because of the reversal in distance,the actual wind s-hearis always increasing headwind or
wind directions. The mean- greaterthan the wind speed shear alonL. decreasing tailwind on
ingful shear is the change in approach can cause an
headwind across the noint of overshoot.
wind direction reverial (-30
knots).That decreaseover a given horizontal dis-
tance, say from one end of the runway to the
During departure under condi-
other, is the wind shear.Technically, the correct
units of horizontal wind shear in this case are tions of suspected low-level wind
knots per nautical mile or the equivalent. shear, a sudden decreasein head-
However, wind shear information may also be wind will cause a loss in airspeed
given as a statement of the loss in headwind in
equal to the decrease in wind
knots,or as surfacewind speedsand directionsat
two different locations along the runway. velocity.

The two diagramsin figure 11-1 are idealized.In

general, changesin wind speed and direction
occur simultaneously with wind direction
changessomewherebetween 0' and 180'. Your
concernas a pilot is how much the headwind or
tailwind changesalong your flight path, and in
how short a distancethe changeoccurs.
< 4.0
4.0 to 7.9
8 . 0t o 1 1 . 9
>12
When wind shear is encountered on takeoff and
the headwind decreases or the tailwind increases,
the angle of climb and rate of climb will be lower.
In critical situations, obstaclesnear the airport
may not be cleared.During both takeoff and land-
ing, a strong wind shear with a crosswind com-
ponent may causethe aircraft to deviate from the
centerline of the runway. Close to
the ground, clearance of nearby
obstaclesmay become difficult or
impossible, Figure 1L-2 assigns
LLWS severity categoriesto vari-
ous rangesof vertical wind shear.

Figure 11-2.Severity categoriesof LLWSexpressedin terms of vertical A wind shearis consideredsignif-

wind shear.Remember that LLWS applies to wind shear within 2,000 icant when airspeedfluctuations
feet of the surface along the final approach path or along the takeoff of 15 to 20 knots occur.
and initial climbout path. According to these values,the vertical wind
shear conditions in figure 11-1correspondto strong LLWS.
 SectionB
CAUSESOF WINDSHEAR pilots may not have time to safely maneuver the
aircraft to compensate for the wind change.

In the last few years, the term wind shear often

Although the dimensions of regions with signifi-
has been used to describeLLWS in the vicinity of
cant shear are small, that shear is caused by cir-
convective precipitation, such as microbursts.
culations on scales which range from macroscale
There are not many experiencedpilots who don't
low pressure systems to microscale thermals.
first think microburst when LLWS is mentioned,
Some of the more imnortant sources of wind
The reasonthat wind shearassociatedwith con-
shear are considered inihe following paragraphs.
vective precipitation receivesso much attention
is a simple one;it has beenidentified as the cause
of a significant number of weather-relatedacci-
dents with great loss of life and destruction of
MICROBURSTS
property. However, it is important to remember
The key to understanding development of wind
that microbursts are only one of the causes of
shear below the bases of convective clouds is a
wind shear. You will see in later sectionsthat
good knowledge of the characteristics of a typi-
several other, quite different weather phenomena
cal precipitation-induced downdraft. You were
can also produce seriouswind shearconditions.
introduced to this phenomenon in Chapter 9. Its
main features are summarized in figure 11-3.
An important characteristic of wind
shear is that it may be associated with a Not all precipitation-induced downdrafts are
associated with critical wind shears. However,
thunderstorm, a low-level temperature there are two types of downdrafts that are partic-
inversion, a iet stream, or a frontal zone. ularly hazardous to flight operations because of
their severity and small size. Professor T. Fujita,
an atmospheric scientist from the University of
Chicago, coined the term donnburst for a concen-
Critical wind shear for aircraft operations gener-
trated, severe downdraft that induces an outward
ally occurs on the microscale;that is, over hori-
burst of damaging winds at the ground. He also
zontal distances of one
nauticalmile or less and
vertical distances of Iess
than 1,000 feet. These
scales are so small that

Figure 11-3.Conditions
b e l o wt h e b a s eo f a m u l t i -
c e l lt h u n d e r s t o r mW . ind
s h e a ra n d t u r b u l e n c ea r e
f o u n d w i t h i nt h e m a i n
d o w n d r a f ui n s m a l l e r ,
s t r o n g e rd o w n d r a f t so c c a -
s i o n a l l ye m b e d d e di n t h e
m a i n d o w n d r a f t( d o w n -
b ur s t s a n d m i c r o b u r s t s ) ;
andat the boundarieo sf the 6URdraft
o u t f l o w ( t h eg u s t f r o n t ) .

introduced the term mic;roburstfor a downburst
with horizontal dimensionsof 2.2 n.m. (+ km) or
Iess.Becausethe term "microburst" is used more
frequently in the general aviation Iiterature to
describe any precipitation-induced downdraft
that producescritical wind shearconditions,we
will use that term in subseouentdiscussionsto
avoid confusion.
Microbursts form by the same processesthat pro-
duce the more common and less intense down-
drafts; that is, by precipitation drag and cooling
due to the evaporation and melting of precipita-
tion particles. In a microburst, the downdraft
intensifies with heavy rain and when dry air is
mixed into the downdraft causing evaporative
cooling and great negativebuoyancy.
Microburstsmay occur in airmass,multicell, and
supercell thunderstorms. Isolated, single-cell
storms present a greater hazard to aviation;
because,they are common, small scale,rapidly
developing, and they have strong outflows.
Larger multicell storms are usually easier to
avoid becausethey
are less frequent,
are rargerscale, 31*131:: t""*"::lii
have lJngerlife- iil li:Xn,T€pproacn-
times, and are often
already identified
AS SEVEIE.
A ^perspective view of a microburst
is shown in figure 1.1.-4. The
microburst is characterized by a
strong core of cool, dense air
descending from the base of a con-
vective cloud. As it reaches the
ground, it spreads out laterally as a
rroLtex ring which rolls upward
along its outer boundary. You can
interpret this pattern as an
upside-down version of a thermal.
Figure 11-4-A symmetrical
m i c r o b u r s t .T h e a r r o w s i n d i -
c a t ea i r f l o wa n d t h e v e r t i c a l
l i n e si n d i c a t ep r e c i p i t a t i o n .
WIND SHEAR
Typically,the microburst descendsfrom the base
of its parent cloud to the ground in a minute or
so,
A cross section of an idealized microburst as it
reachesthe ground is shown in figure 11-5.The
shearof the horizontalwind acrossthe baseof the
microburst is apparent. You now see why this
shear is so dangerous.Wind speeds are strong
and the directionsreverse180oacrossthe center-
line of the microburst. Furthermore, the strong
downward motions and heavy rain in the center
of the downburst also reduce lift. All of this takes
place in a very short period of time, near the
ground, and frequently with low ceilings and
visibilities.
An aircraft that encounters a
headwind of 45 knots with a
microburst may expect a total
shear across the microburst of 90
knots.
6000
4500
i
F
: 3000
E
E
{
1500
C
WIND SHEAR

F i g u r e 1 1 - 5 . M i c r o b u r sct r o s ss e c t i o nT. h e f l i g h th a z a r d si n c l u d e
t h e s t r o n g d o w n d r a f t ,o f t e n w i t h h e a v y p r e c i p i t a t i o ng; u s t y h o r i z o n -
Within 100 feet of the ground, t a l w i n d s ( s h a d e d )s;t r o n gh o r i z o n t awl i n d s h e a rf r o m o n e s i d e o f
only a few seconds may be t h e m i c r o b u r stto t h e o t h e rs i d e ;a n d t u r b u l e n c ei n t h e v o r t e xr i n q s .
available for the recognition
and recovery from wind shear
associatedwith a microburst.

The lifetime of a microburst rangesfrom 5 to 30 exceedsthe capabilitiesof most light aircraftand

minutes, once it reaches the ground. Most is about the maximum that can be tolerated by
microbursts weaken significantly in only a few heavy jet transports. The effect is illustrated in
minutes.Thereis good evidencethat somelonger figure 11-6.
downburst events are
a combinationof suc- There are several
cessivemicrobursts a variations in the
few minutes apart in
The duration of an individual microburst is formation and
the samelocation. seldom longer than 15 minutes from the time appearance of
the burst strikes the ground until dissipation. precipitation-
The peak outflow induced down-
speedobservedin an drafts and
averagemicroburst is microbursts. For
about 25 knots. Winds in excessof tOOknots are example,a downdraft does not require a thunder-
possible. More critical is the change in wind storm. As discussedpreviously,showersare com-
speed across a microburst. An aircraft intersect- mon from cumulus clouds that do not reach the
ing a typical microburst experiencesan average cumulonimbus stage.Therefore,microbursts also
headwind change of about 45 knots. This LLWS occur under theseconditions.
 WIND SHEAR

F i g u r e 1 1 - 6 . D u r i n ga t a k e o f fi n t o a m i c r o b u r s t a s n i n c r e a s i n gh e a d w i n d( p o s i t i o n1 ) ,
. n a i r c r a f te x p e r i e n c e a
f o l l o w e d b y a d e c r e a s i n gh e a d w i n da n d d o w n d r a f t( p o s i t i o n2 1 ,a n d f i n a l l y a t a i l w i n d ( p o s i t i o n3 ) . T h e m o s t
s e v e r ed o w n d r a f tw i l l b e e n c o u n t e r e db e t w e e np o s i t i o n s2 a n d 3 . T o g e t h e rw i t h t h e l o s s o f a i r s p e e dd u e t o t h e
t a i l w i n d ,i t c a n r e s u l ti n t e r r a i ni m p a c t o r o p e r a t i n gd a n g e r o u s l yc l o s et o t h e g r o u n d ( p o s i t i o n4 ) .

Another variation on the ideal microburst model tions produce "\ /et" downbursts or microbursts
is that it may move and be distorted under the which are closely associatedwith a visible rain-
influence of the larger scale wind field in which shaft. However, in dry climates, such as in the
the thunderstorm deserts anc
I '
is embedded. mountains of
Such "traveling" lfhen A shear frOm a headwind to a tailwind the western
whilemakinsanapproach u's" thunder-
il:il:HllotT,l T_'y:li::-d,
on fl glide
prescrrDed slope,the pilot should
the downwind ;:::r"r"":H:
side; that is, in the expect an airspeed and pitchattitude high and the
direction in which decrea$e with a tendency to go below glide complete evap-
the microburst is -r^*^ oration of the
sloPe'
moving. rainshaft can
occur. In this
There are several case, a "dry"
visual indicators of the presenceof larger down- downburst or microburst may be produced. Al-
bursts and microbursts. In humid climates, con- that may be visible is virga at the cloud base and
vective cloud basestend to be low. Thesecondi- a characteristic dust ring on the ground.
WIND SHEAR

Fortunately, dry downbursts occur mainly in the Ievel wind shearalert systems(LLWAS)have been
afternoon when these visible features can be installed at many large airports around the U.S.
identified. (Figure 11-7) where thunderstorms are frequent, This system
continuously monitors surface winds at remote
As the larger scale downdraft spreads out from sites around the airport and communicates the
one or more thunder- inf ormati on
storms, strong shearsper- to a central
sistin the gustfront on the c o m p u t er.
periphery of the cool air. If there is thunderstorm activity in the The computer
Therefore, wind evaluates the
vicinity ' - _of- an airport at - which-. you plan to
i n c l u d i n g L L W S , m :l"I
ay be r r _ - _ ; _ r '_ :- .'-,-:--- ; wind differ-
found beyond th" b;'"J land, you should expect wind shear and ences across
aries of the visible rain- turbulenCe On approach. the airport to
shaft. determine
whether a
Becauseof the low-level wind shear hazards of wind shear problem exists. Wind shear alerts are
downbursts, microbursts,and gust fronts, low- issued on the basis of this information.

F i g u r e 1 1 - 7 . V i s i b l ei n d i c a t o r so f a w e t d o w n b u r s t
( o r m i c r o b u r s ti)n d i a g r a mA , a n d a d r y d o w n b u r s t
i n d i a g r a m B ( f a c i n gp a g e ) .( D r y d o w n b u r s tp h o t o -
g r a p h , N a t i o n a lC e n t e rf o r A t m o s p h e r i c
R e s e a r c h / U n i v e r s iCt yo r p o r a t i o nf o r A t m o s p h e r i c
R e s e a r c h / N a t i o nS a cl i e n c eF o u n d a t i o n . )

WETDOWNBURST

R a i na n d d u s t
c l o u d p a r t i c l e sm a y
make vortex ring
visible.
R e g i o n so f h e a v i e r
p r e c i p i t a t i o nw i t h i n
the rainshaft.
Rain $haft
 WIND SHEAR

Additionally, terminal doppler weather radar
(TDWR) systems are being installed across the
U.S. at many vulnerable airports to provide more
comprehensive wind shear monitoring. These
radar systemshave greaterpower and a narrower
radar beam than conventional radar, providing
greaterresolution of thunderstorm details.
As we leave this brief discussion of microburst
wind shear, it is important to note that a wide
variety of information regarding microbursts and
related flight techniques is contained in the FAA
Pilot Windshear Guide and the FAA Windshear
Training Aid.

ffi**-n, to fly uuder a thunderstorm even

ffyou can seethrough to the other side.

D R YD O W N B U R S T

Dustmay make
the vortexring
partially
visible.
WIND SHEAR

Reportsof wind shear and other flight hazardsare often

availablethrough pilot weather reports (PIREPs).This
may be the only direct evidenceof thesephenomena.
Pilots are encouragedto use and to report PIREPs.A
PIREPis usually transmitted as an individual report,
but it can be appended to a surfaceaviation weather
report. An example of a PIREPand a PIREPcode break-
down follows.

Elements Explanations
UA or UUA - Type of Report U A i s r o u t i n eP I R E PU; U A i s u r g e n tP I R E P
/OV - Location I n r e l a t i o nt o V O R o r r o u t es e g m e n t
( s t a t i o ni d e n t i f i e rr,a d i a l ,D M E )

/TM - Time C o o r d i n a t e dU n i v e r s aTl i m e ( U T C )

IFL- Altitude Above mean sea level (MSL)
IP - Type of aircraft E x a m p l eC
, E112
/SK - Sky cover C l o u db a s e sa n d t o p s ( b o t h M S L ) ,a m o u n to f
coverage(scattered,broken,overcast)
AruX- Weather visibility,restrictionsto vision
Precipitation,
l\A - Temperature DegreesCelsius
/VVV- Wind D i r e c t i o ni n d e g r e e st r u e ,s p e e di n k n o t s
IIB - Turbulence Light,moderate,severe,as appropriate
/ l C- lcing Trace,light, moderate,severe,as appropriate
/RM- Remarks T o c l a r i f yt h e r e p o r to r f o r a d d i t i o n ailn f o r m a t i o n

CODED PIREP:
1522lFL080/TPCE172|SK
uA/ov oKc 0630641TM 020 BKN045/060OVC070/
TA -O4MV LGT/RMIN CLR
245O4OITB

DECODED PIREP:
R o u t i n pe i l o tr e p o r.t. . 6 4 n . m .o n t h e6 3 "r a d i aflr o mO k l a h o mCa i t y V O R . . .a t
lS22UTC...flightaltitude8,000ft...typeofaircraftisaCessnalT2...baseof
brokenlayerat 2,000feet with tops at 4,500feet.Baseof overcastlayerat 6,000
feettops at 7,000feet . . . outsideair temperature is minusfour degreesCelsius
wind is from 245'trueat 40 kts . . . lightturbulence and clearskies.
 WIND SHEAR

FRONTSAND SHALLOW A frontal passageis reported at a weather station

LOWS
You already know from Part II that fronts are
regions of wind shear. In fact, when we inspect
the surface analysis chart, we often use the wind
shift across a front as an identifying feature of its
location. You should also recall that a front is a
zone between two different airmasses and frontal
wind shear is concentrated in that zone. Since the
cold air always wedges under the warm air, the
sheared frontal zone always slopes back over the
cold air, regardless of the type of front. It follows
that the sloping frontal zone contains both hori-
zontal and vertical shear. (Figure 11-8)
when the warm boundary of the frontal zone
passesthe station. Therefore, the onset of LLWS
follows a cold frontal passageand precedesa
warm frontal passage.Typical periods for critical
LLWS with frontal passagesare one to three hours
after a cold front and up to six hours before a
warm front. Wind shearwith a warm fronr causes
the most problems; because,it is often strong,
Iasts longer, and frequently occurs with low ceil-
ings and poor visibilities.
The stronger the horizontal temperature
rchangeacrossthe frontal zone, the
stronger the wind shear,

Figure 11-8. Perspectiveview of a cold front. Broad

arrows indicatewinds. Wind shearsthrough the slop-
ing frontal zone are both vertical shears,along line V With a warm front, the most
a n d h o r i z o n t a ls h e a r s ,a l o n g l i n e H . T h e s h e a r sa r e
concentratedin the frontal zone.
critical period for LLWS is
heforethe front passes.

COLD FRONT

o)

=
=

Distance
 WIND SHEAR

Strong wind shear often occurs in shallow wave

cyclones during the cooler part of the year, espe-
cially in the vicinity of the warm front. In contrast
with occluded cyclones, wave cyclones in their
initial stagesof development may not extend to
700 mb (10,000feet MSL). An exampleis shown
in figure 11-9.

Wind shear is not limited to large scale fronts. It

also occurs in the vicinity of mesoscalebound-
aries such as seabreezefronts.

AIRMASSWIND SHEAR F i g u r e 1 1 - 9 . E x a m p l eo f w i n d s h e a ri n a s h a l l o w
Airmass wind shear occurs at night under fair cyclone.Surface winds (thin arrows) are north-
weather conditions in the absenceof strong fronts e a s t e r l ya h e a do f t h e w a r m f r o n t , w h i l e j u s t a b o v e
the warm frontal zone,winds are strong southwest-
and/or strong surface pressure gradients. It
e r l y ( b r o a da r r o w ) .
developswhen the ground becomescooler
than the overlying airmass as a result of
radiational cooling. If the cooling is strong If a temperature inversion is encountered
enough, a ground based, or surface inver- immediately after takeoff or during an
sion results. In this case,the temperature approach to a landing, a potential hazard
increaseswith altitude from the surfaceto
exists due to wind shear.

an altitude of a few hundred feet.

This layer is also known as a
nocturnal inversion.(Figure11-10)

The stability of the boundary layer in

5 0 0-
LL
the nocturnal inversion hinders the
mixing of faster-movingair down to
o 400 -
the surface;therefore, surface winds
tend to decreaseat night. In contrast,
3 0 0-
winds above an altitude of a few
hundred feet AGL often increase
200 -
becausethey are insulated from the
frictional influence of the surfaceby
1 0 0-
the nocturnal inversion. The result
of these processes is that vertical
0-
wind shear increases through the
nocturnal inversion. LLWS encoun-
tered during descentthrough the top
Cold Warm Cold Warm Cold Warm of the nocturnal inversion can be
particularly strong and unexpected.
F i g u r e 1 1 - 1 O .L o w - l e v e sl o u n d i n g st a k e nt h r o u g h o u tt h e d a y a n d n i g h t
. s t a b l el a y e rd e v e l o p sa t n i g h t d u e t o
d u r i n g f a i r w e a t h e rc o n d i t i o n s A
r a d i a t i o n acl o o l i n g o f t h e g r o u n d .B y s u n r i s et h e s t a b i l i t yh a s i n c r e a s e dt o
a m a x i m u m a s i n d i c a t e db v t h e n o c t u r n a li n v e r s i o n .
 WIND SHEAR

After sunrise,mixing by convectiondestroysthe in the free atmosphere, known as elevated stable

nocturnalinversion.The connectionbetweensur- layers. These are found over shallow, cool air-
face friction and the flow aloft is reestablished masses, In the warmer months, daytime convec-
and the vertical shearweakens. tion concentrates the shear at the top of the air-
mass. In winter, these stable layers may extend all
In winter, over regionsof snow and ice, surface- the way to the ground, especially over snow and
based inversions are particularly strong and per- ice fields.
sist day and night. Caution is advised 6lsrinotho
After a cold airmass moves across a mountainous
area, cold air will often remain trapped in the val-
A pilot can expect a wind shear zone in leys as warmer air moves in aloft. A strong, ele-
a temperature inversion whenever the vated stable layer is typically found just below
wind speed at 2,OCI0to 4,OOOfeet above the mountain peaks. If strong winds are present
above the mountains, there are large vertical
the surface is at least 25 knots. wind shears in the stable layer; that is, between
the weak, cold airflow in the valleys and warmer
air flowing across the mountains. (Figure 1,1-11)
landing and takeoff phases, especially when
winds abovethe inversion are strong.

ELEVATED
STABLELAYERS V$hen a climb or descent
through a stable layer is
In addition to fronts and nocturnal inversions,
wind shearsmay be found in other stable layers
being perforrled, the pilot
shoutrdbe alert for a sudden
changein airspeed.
F i g u r e1 1 - 1 1 .V e r t i c awl i n ds h e a ri s o f t e nf o u n di n a n e l e -
vatedstablelayerthatcapscoldairtrappedin a valley.

S t r o n g U p p e rW i n d s
WIND SHEAR

JET STREAMS jet streamsand within a few thousand feet of the

Certain patterns of upper level short wave
troughs and ridges produce significant wind
shear.The strongestshearsare usually associated
with sharply curved contours on constant pres-
sure surfacesand/or strong winds. Regions near
tropopause have the highest probabilities of
strong shears. Occasionally, the shear is strong
enough to cause large airspeed fluctuations,
especially during climb or descent. Since these
shearedlayers are also prime for clear air turbu-
Ience, this topic will be discussed in greater
detail in the next chapter.

SUMMARY
Wind shear is one of the most serious low-level flight hazards in the atmosphere.Significant wind shear
not only occurs with microbursts,but also with fronts, and nocturnal inversions.Wind shearis also found
in elevatedstablelayers and near the jet streams.Failure to be aware of all causesand weather conditions
that produce wind shearcan lead to catastrophicresults. An encounterwith LLWS, in particular, is unfor-
giving becauseof the proximity of your aircraft to the ground. You now have somebasic tools to recognize
and, where possible, avoid potential wind shear conditions. Theseinclude useful conceptual models and
rules of thumb. In the next chapter, you will become aware of a number of situations where wind shear
and turbulence can be present at the sametime in the same location.

KEYTERMS
Airmass Wind Shear Microburst
Downburst Nocturnal Inversion
Elevated Stable Layer Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR)
Frontal Wind Shear Vertical Wind Shear
Horizontal Wind Shear Vortex Ring
Low-Level Wind Shear (LLWS) Wind Shear
Low-Level Wind ShearAlert System (LLWAS)

CHAPTER
OUESTIONS
1.. The wind at 200 feet AGL is 330" at 15 knots. 3 . What is the severity of the LLWS?
The surfacewind is 24o" at 15 knots. Explain how you determined the severity.

1. What is the wind speed difference
over the 200-foot layer?
2. What is the wind shear, magnitude
only, between the surface and 200 feet
AGL?
4 . What is the severity of the LLWS
in Diagram A of figure 11-1?
Show all of your work.

2. You are taxiing out in preparation for
takeoff. An isolated rain shower can be
seen over the opposite end of the runway.
There is no thunder or lightning.
1. Should you take offf
2. Why?
3. If you elect not to take off, about
how long will you have to wait
until you can go?Explain,
3. At just about sunrise,a pilot is descendingto
Iand on an island. The airstrip is on the
north shore of the island, between the ocean
and a range of volcanic peaks. The prevail-
ing winds are easterlies.On final approach
from the west, strong LLWS is encountered
at 100 feet. Explain why this happened and
provide appropriate sketches.
WIND SHEAR
4. The critical period for a low-level wind
shear hazard is longer for a warm front than
for a cold front. Why? There are two reasons.
A sketch will help.
5. Perform the following experiment to sim-
ulate the structure and behavior of a
downburst. You need an eye dropper of
whole milk and a tall glass of water. Be
sure the water is not moving. Place the
end of the eye dropper close to the sur-
face of the water and releasea single drop.
Make a sketch and describethe results.
1. What will happen if you use skim
milk?
2. What does this say about the intensity o f
downbursts?
Decodethe following PIREPs.
1. UA/OV TOL/TM ZTOOIFLT OITP
UNKN/TB MDT CAT 1.8O-24O.
2. . . . . /RM LLWS -15KT SFC-O3O
DURC
RNWY 22IFK.