A statistical analysis of approach winds at capacity-restricted airports

Since ambient wind speed and direction are the most important factors when considering the possibility of a lateral wake vortex encounter, wind behavior around airports with closely-spaced parallel (CSP) runways needs to be well understood before simultaneous approaches during restrictive weather could ever be used in an operational setting. This paper presents a statistical analysis of wind behavior for several major airports with CSP runways by using aircraft wind observations. Specifically, speed and direction characteristics of headwinds and crosswinds are examined, as well as correlations between the two wind components with respect to each other and with respect to altitude. The resulting data should prove useful for Monte Carlo simulations of new CSP approach procedures