Windshear Warnings in regional A/C
 

Lets talk windshear. So i just finished my first probationary/recurrent PC at the regional i work for flying the CRJ2. One thing that always amazed me in sim training was doing the windshear training/escape maneuver practice. it seems to me with the way they give us windshear in the sim if it happened in real life on takeoff or on landing if you didnt react accordingly within a few seconds you would be dead. At our company when we get a windshear warning it is the only time they let us go balls to the walls on the throttle and it really seems like if you you used any less power you wouldn't make it. also another thing i noticed is that if the windshear came with a performance increasing at first if you didn't recognize it as windshear immediately and take advantage of that performance increase while doing a go around on landing your gonna crash. has anyone had anything of the equivalent of this in the real world? looking to hear some stories. Also i think in the sim what they may be giving us is microbursts is that correct? Maybe other A/C can handle severe windshear better but to me and what i hear from alot of people is that the CRJ2 is underpowered. I really wouldn't know because its the only jet i have time in. In the year ive been flying the CRJ2 ive had a windshear warning once on takeoff. i was the pilot non flying but as soon as i heard it i called windshear escape and just pushed the power up to the stops. may have been stepping on the captains dick by touching his thrust levers on his leg but from what i seen in the sim i wasnt going to sit and wait an extra second for him to do it. When we did get the warning though it wasnt that bad.. lost maybe 15 knots on takeoff which only put us back to around V2 speed so it wasnt that bad.

Saab and the Q didn't have warnings. We didn't go missed like RJ's due to "warnings".

Windshear is pretty common. It varies in degree from barely noticeable to potentially catastrophic. They are training you for the worst case...I wouldn't firewall the throttle unless you are in it bad and ground contact is imminent. Most companies and most airplanes recommend a graduated approach, something like this:

1. Max Continuous + Pitch
2. Emergency Power (+ maybe more pitch)
3. Firewall

The urgency of the event depends on how bad the performance loss is, and how fast the ground is approaching. On some airplanes, firewall WILL require an engine teardown, so that should not be a step taken lightly unless you need it.

The 200 has plenty of power at or near sea level.

But follow your SOP procedure... if that tells you to pitch for the shaker and cook the motors I guess that's what you have to do.

I've checked out in 6 jet types, and all are maximum power and 15 degrees nose up or ride the shaker for a windshear warning.

The CRJ-200 has plenty of power down low.

What you're doing in the sim are worst case scenario windshear profiles. Just like most airline pilots will only have one engine quit over their career, you're more than likely never going to encounter a windshear anything like that in your lifetime.

:D dont deviate penetrate ! turboprop terror ftw.

Blaze the way and open the corridors for the jets.

thanks for the replies. yeah i know it is severe windshear and its rare to actually encounter this. was wondering anyone has actually had to deal with this? In the CRJ2 we are supposed to chase the flight director or ride shaker if ground impact is imminent. the maneuver itself in the sim is actually pretty fun to do.

You can actually give yourself a windshear warning in the e145 by rapid thrust lever changes while you are chasing a speed below 1500'. It is a bad habit that a lot of people have. It is similar to people who pump the yoke just before touchdown.

I'll go along with this with one addendum: At least the instructors I've worked with in the sim are training you to ingrain best practices which will hopefully enable you to survive if you encounter a severe windshear. What you're getting in the sim (at least the ones I'm familiar with) is NOT the full 100% setting on the windshear model - several of those are simply NOT survivable if you wait until you get the warning. This is also true for the aircraft - there are shears which you cannot escape with any known technique.

Again, I must emphasize (not for you 80, just in general): We aren't training technique for flying through windshear, we're training the best known way to survive if you find yourself in that situation.

As far as the thrust - depending on the airframe (some are susceptible to compressor stalls above rated power, so utilize the best practices for your particular airframe.

Do what you have to do, keeping in mind the meso or synoptic scale situation you are in. Convective weather in the vicinity or climbing through a low-level winter inversion, or a gusty day behind a cold front?

That said, as a wise man once put it: They don't overhaul crashes.

This might be the same thing bcrosier said but just said differently. In the sim we can give you windshear events ranging from 100% (you will crash no matter what) to zero percent (not even noticeable). If you need firewall power in the sim just to survive, your instructor is most likely giving you a shear in the 70-80% range just to see how well you do and to make you fly the director and manage energy as long as possible. Like the other poster said, that's probably one of those once in a lifetime if ever real world events. Don't let it scare you into thinking normal shear encounters in the CRJ will be like that.