Echoing the observations of the other posters here, the top of the scale (50m/sec) amounts to 180km/h winds. In other words, just because it's there doesn't mean it's realistic to use high values unless we want to simulate flying a Hurricane in a hurricane
I think that normal flying would be limited to winds up to 10m/sec or so. According to calculator in the website posted above, the 15m/sec value you mention is a 7 in the Beaufort scale, so it's probably normal to have difficulties landing in such a gale.
I suspect the reason we can set really high values is not for the prevailing winds but for the gusts. For example, having a 5m/sec wind that oocasionally gusts to 20m/secs. In such a case landings would be possible most of the time, but the occasional go around/missed approach might occur, just to make things interesting.
Also, we can set different wind layers. This could simulate the dangerous phenomenon of wind shear: big differences in wind speed and direction as you cross a specific altitude can result in equally big fluctuations in your indicated airspeed. And since the aircraft flies by what it "feels" on the wings (the IAS), this could result in a sudden stall (if you are flying into the wind and suddenly the wind starts blowing from your 6 in force) or overspeed condition (flying at your maximum permissible IAS with a tailwind, then suddenly you get a headwind of 30 knots or so and your IAS goes 30 knots over the structural limit).
It is for this exact reason that aircraft have speed limits in turbulent air, sudden changes of wind might push the IAS over the aircraft's tolerances. In civilian aircraft like the one's found in aeroclubs, the airspeed indicators also have these speed ranges clearly marked on the face of the dial with different colours.
Interesting stuff
07-19-2012, 08:57 PM
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