What are these things called at airports?

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It looks like a plane, it's "T" shaped with lights on it, parallel to the ground, even has a tail fin. It's in a fixed position on the ground by the runway... painted yellow.
 
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I've seen them called wind indicators, landing tees, and wind tees. Astro may be able to tell us the correct name.
 
I always called them "Wind Tees" when they're shaped like that..but I could be wrong, I'm not certain of the official nomenclature...
 
Ha, it is not in a 'fixed' position.
wink.gif

It is a wind indicator as stated above and it builds fear into a tailwheel pilot when it is not aligned with a runway!
 
Originally Posted By: Taildragger
Ha, it is not in a 'fixed' position.
wink.gif

It is a wind indicator as stated above and it builds fear into a tailwheel pilot when it is not aligned with a runway!

What do you think it does to an ultralight pilot?
 
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Originally Posted By: cappilot
My favorite is the tetrahedron


Same here. They're really interesting looking.
 
Originally Posted By: bioburner
Originally Posted By: Taildragger
Ha, it is not in a 'fixed' position.
wink.gif

It is a wind indicator as stated above and it builds fear into a tailwheel pilot when it is not aligned with a runway!

What do you think it does to an ultralight pilot?


Talk to John Denver...
 
Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
Originally Posted By: bioburner
Originally Posted By: Taildragger
Ha, it is not in a 'fixed' position.
wink.gif

It is a wind indicator as stated above and it builds fear into a tailwheel pilot when it is not aligned with a runway!

What do you think it does to an ultralight pilot?


Talk to John Denver...


John Denver was flying a Long-EZ - not an ultralight, but an experimental category airplane that is well known for its high performance and good handling.

He lost control by stepping on the rudder in an effort to twist around in the cockpit and change fuel tanks at low altitude. Sort of analogous to using the steering wheel to pull yourself up from grabbing something that fell on the floor, and turning it a whole turn, while going 70 on the highway.

The airplane flipped over from the excessive rudder input and he was too low to recover.

Crosswind wasn't involved. Landing wasn't involved. He lost control of a perfectly good airplane (not ultralight) that was in stable, level flight.
 
Even more brilliant:
1. not checking fuel before takeoff.
2. not learning an airplane's systems and controls before flying it.
3. running out of fuel at low altitude, and my personal favorite
4. Failing to maintain control of an airplane.
 
Originally Posted By: cappilot
Here ya go:

http://www.flightlearnings.com/2011/12/16/wind-direction-indicators/

My favorite is the tetrahedron, but there aren't many still alive in the wild.

A local airport has a real, though un-airworthy, plane mounted in place of the wind tee or tetrahedron. A very cool wind direction indicator.



Are you talking about Boone's airport? I know they have a plane as an indicator but I've never really eyed it close enough to know if it is real.
 
Yes, the airport at Boone, Iowa, has an airplane mounted as a wind indicator. Glasair RG, I believe.
 
Our local airport is so lousy, an old guy name Festus just puts down his beer, jumps up from a lawn chair, and points in the direction of the wind.
 
Originally Posted By: cappilot
Yes, the airport at Boone, Iowa, has an airplane mounted as a wind indicator. Glasair RG, I believe.


Very cool.
 
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