Ajax

Earlier today on the dayshift, we were landing 04R (with some overflow to rwy 11 as well) while the winds were fluctuating between 240 to 300, and sustained 10kt+ with the ocasional gust to 15 or so. Needless to say we had a few go arounds, but it took a while before enough pilots complained about it, and forced our traffic management, and the tower to make the runway change to 22L. In the meantime, a few declared minimum fuel due to the delays caused by both the go arounds, and the airborne holding needed to complete the change.

This is not an isolated incident, but unfortunately rather common here at the New York Tracon, though normally it happens more often when we're landing 22L with a north wind, because the tower prefers the southwest configuration since it allows a more efficient operation. One of the many problems with this is that whatever EWR configuration is, it forces TEB to switch accordingly, and while you may be perfectly within your max tailwind component range in your DH8-E145-B737 etc, the poor little guy flying a C172 coming to land at TEB with that 10kt+ tailwind has a much rougher time. We should never ever compromise safety for efficiency, and this issue somewhat crosses that line.

As a controller, I have no power whatsoever to make the runway change call. Both the tower and TMU are the ones involved in that decision making process. I've complained to my supervisors over, and over for many years, and it usually takes some go arounds, or pilots refusing to accept a runway until they're forced to make the change. The standart replies I usually get are: "the wind is forecasted to change", or "the wind is in the ATIS, and if they check in with the ATIS code, and don't complain then its ok". Another favorite line is "they can land just fine with a 10kt tailwind", or 'the companies (UAL) want us to push runway 11 with a 10kt+ tailwind"

If you pilots routinely decline to accept those 10kt+ tailwinds, then perhaps they'll be more inclined to make the change as soon as the winds change, even if its at the detriment of efficiency. They're usually reluctant to make the change because it involves delays both on the ground, and airborne as well. If the wind shifts several times during the day, it could have a huge impact on overall efficiency to switch back and forth, so a lot of times we eat it as long as pilots don't complain, or we don't get too many go arounds.

I pray to God that nobody ever runs off the end of a runway because of this, and I definitely do not want to find myself in an accident NTSB hearing trying to justify why I cleared an aircraft for approach to a runway with a known 10kt+ tailwind.

I'd love to hear the other side of the story and how you guys feel about it.