AN ACR FLC FLYING AN MD88 AT ATL LANDS WITH A TAILWIND THAT EXCEEDS THE ACFT LIMITATIONS.

Date: 1999-07 · Aircraft: MD-88 · Phase: approach

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|inflight-event-encounter-unstabilized-approach|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence

Synopsis

AN ACR FLC FLYING AN MD88 AT ATL LANDS WITH A TAILWIND THAT EXCEEDS THE ACFT LIMITATIONS.

Narrative

WE HAD SPENT THE ENTIRE FLT FROM PIT TO ATL DEVIATING AROUND TSTMS. APPROX 120 MI N OF ATL; WE WERE GIVEN HOLDING INSTRUCTIONS. FUEL WAS A CONCERN BECAUSE I DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH FUEL TO HOLD FOR VERY LONG. ATIS WAS RPTING THE WINDS AT ATL AT 240 DEGS AT 8 KTS AND WERE LNDG TO THE E ON RWY 8L/9R. OUR LNDG RWY WAS RWY 8L. AFTER BEING CLRED FOR THE APCH; WE WERE STABLE ON THE LOC AND GS. THE FO WAS FLYING THE APCH AND AT THE OM; I CONTACTED THE TWR. THEY CALLED THE WINDS 240 DEGS AT 14 KTS WITH GUSTS TO 18 KTS. WITH THE RWY IN SIGHT AND A STABLE APCH BEING FLOWN; WE CONTINUED THE APCH. AT APPROX 500 FT AGL; I REQUESTED A WIND CHK AND TWR RPTED THE WINDS AT 240 DEGS AT 13 KTS. WE LANDED UNEVENTFULLY AND TAXIED TO THE GATE. AFTER PARKING THE ACFT; I GOT OUT MY XWIND CHART AND CALCULATED THAT WE LANDED WITH A TAILWIND OF ABOUT 12 KTS -- 2 KTS ABOVE ACFT LIMITATIONS. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THIS WERE TSTMS IN THE AREA AND FUEL CONSIDERATIONS. I HAD ALREADY PLANNED ON DIVERTING TO KNOXVILLE IF ANYTHING ELSE HAD HAPPENED TO SLOW OUR ARR. ON FINAL I DID NOT HAVE TIME TO GET OUT THE XWIND CHART; ESPECIALLY AFTER THE ATIS RPTED WINDS AT 240 DEGS AT 8 KTS. I WOULD PROBABLY DO THE SAME THING AGAIN PRESENTED WITH SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF TSTMS IN THE AREA AND FUEL BECOMING A CONCERN. I LEARNED FROM THIS THE NEED TO CONTINUE TO BE AWARE OF CHANGING WINDS. WITH MORE TIME I COULD HAVE CALCULATED OUR TAILWIND; BUT WITH THE WX THE WAY IT WAS WITH TSTMS IN THE AREA; MY OPTIONS WERE LIMITED.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.