When do airports close for wind

This is likely due to safety concerns for ground crew. Mike Arnot is the founder of Boarding Pass NYC , a New York-based travel brand, and a private pilot who flies with a maximum crosswind component of only a few knots. Terms Apply. Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. Many of the credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.

This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Please view our advertising policy page for more information. Skip to content. Advertiser Disclosure. Mike Arnot. Image via AviationWeather. North is up. And what about even windier conditions? Runway condition You mention the wheels are not powered, and this is true.

Lightning When lightning is in the vicinity, ground crews go inside as it is a deadly hazard to be on the ramp in those conditions. Summary All of these things contribute to lowered arrival rates into the airport and as conditions deteriorate you reach a point where you are spending more time dealing with keeping the airport open than departing airplanes and it makes sense to close the airport temporarily.

Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. Visibility Aircraft can certainly use systems like ILS that allow them to take off or land in low visibility.

Water It's true that aircraft wheels are not directly powered. Too much snow on the runway, and you might not be able to gain flying speed. Icy or wet runway, crosswinds could push you off the runway before you're going fast enough to have control authority. I believe a really heavy rain could even stall the engines, though the only cases I recall involved flying into thunderstorms.

And so on. The point is, why take the risk? Controllers can make advisories saying that aircraft might not want to land at an airport, but they can't directly stop flights from landing at the airport.

It is everything but safe though, and in an emergency you will probably not make it back safe. But, the wind never directly lines up with the runway, and a mph crosswind would blow the airplane right off the runway before it ever got off the ground, causing it to crash. They can, though it's better if you can at least see the runway lights.

What is actually impossible is taxiing, there's no system that allows you to follow taxiways to the terminals with no visibility. Again, yes, they can use the runway so they can take off. But, when they land, they do use their brakes to stop. If their tires get no grip, the planes would generally slide off the runway an no, engine braking is not powerful enough to stop a plane on their own.

So having no traction on the runway may not stop you from taking off, but it will stop you from landing. Jay Carr Jay Carr I need to ask a question about that. Is this commonly installed on planes and commonly had at airports? It is common at large airports nothing too special, just taxi routes with high intensity centerline lights and various other lights.

Visibility Shouldn't they be able to take off through fog using instruments alone? Traction Shouldn't they be able to take-off on a slippery runway, since the wheels are not powered? TRiG 5 5 bronze badges. Not that tie-downs always work. Henry Hallan Henry Hallan 21 1 1 bronze badge.

I believe most airliners will have stall speeds above that, even when empty with full flaps. That picture is definitely a good illustration of what wind can do to a light aircraft, though. Philippe Philippe 11 1 1 bronze badge. Kate Gregory Kate Gregory 8 8 bronze badges. They were posted the same day the question was asked, over 9 months ago. Don't resurrect old questions if you're not adding something new.

Aircraft which have already pushed back can still take off in lightning and arriving aircraft can still land. They just can't push back a departing aircraft or dock an arriving one until the lightning stops. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password. Post as a guest Name. Email Required, but never shown. Heavy rain could affect visibility, but planes generally fly on instruments anyway, so this will not be an issue in itself.

Wind speed and direction can make a flight time quite different than usual. A headwind, however, is where the aircraft is flying against the wind direction.

These time differences are demonstrated most dramatically with longer transatlantic flights. For take-off and landing, airplanes usually move into the wind to reduce their ground speed. Crosswinds can also make take-offs and landings more challenging. To counteract this, airports will impose limits if the wind is moving across the runway. Many airports have runways facing different directions to mitigate against crosswinds, allowing pilots to use the runway that faces into the wind.

Strong winds can make for a turbulent flight, which can be stressful for passengers. Strong winds might be frightening for passengers and crew. Not to mention, turbulence makes serving meals difficult for the flight crew.

But as a safety concern, it is also possible for the crosswind component to be too high for a safe landing, although this is unusual in a modern airplane. Modern airplanes are also exceptionally well-designed to cope with freezing temperatures and snowfall once in the air. Ice or snow should not be an issue once in the air, as most airplanes have de-icing equipment installed. Flight operations still need to beware of freezing rain, which can cause rapid ice build-up, too fast for even the de-icing equipment to keep up.

If ice builds upon the wings of a plane, this can be dangerous. Snow is not a significant problem when a flight is in the air. A pilot does not want to try landing on it unless used to doing that kind of thing. Well we'd love it if you left us a review. It only takes 30 seconds, we promise! All articles. Whether because of crazy videos you've seen online or because of wild weather on the day you travel, chances are that you've probably wondered about what wind speed delays flights.

You might've also worried about this, especially if you've never delved deeper into the underlying facts. Non-stop flights only.