Modesto2 From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 2628 posts, RR: 6 Posted (11 years 8 months 3 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 1578 times:
I have a questions regarding SFO's departures and arrivals since the airport generally uses different runways for these procedures. Winds at SFO are usually 280 degrees. That means that aircraft landing on 28L/R are landing into the wind. No problem. However, does this mean that all 1L/R departures experience a crosswind, 90 degrees from the left side? Can someone confirm this statement? Why was the airport developed in such a manner? Obviously, it's not an issue, but I must wonder, how do pilots feel about the runway configurations? Thanks for any insight.
Flygga From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (11 years 8 months 3 weeks 3 days ago) and read 1551 times:
Modesto2 you are correct about the winds at SFO. The current runway layout was designed in the 40's when air traffic was a lot less than it is now. The crosswinds for the departures are not that much of a problem unless the winds get strong. Once the crosswinds start getting up past 15 kts they start to use the 28's for arrivals and departures which means they usually use one runway for arrivals and one for departures. This greatly reduces the maximum number of flights the airport can handle.
You must also remember, that most airports do not have runways going in multiple directions and pilots at these airports do not have the luxury of using another runway. They just have to deal with the crosswinds.
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