kim said:
Most idiotic thing I have ever heard of. What they really need to to lengthen the runway the other way so they don't take off so close to the fence if that is even possible. Or ONLY take off toward the sea and not the mountain of that is possible. I have no idea how that even works.
Sorry Kim, the prevailing winds are trade winds coming from the East North East 90%+ of the time. This is almost straight down the runway at PJIA, and the winds are usually 10 kts or better. Landing to the east and taking off to the east shortens the stopping distance upon landing and shortens the takeoff run similarly.
For aircraft there are two speeds in play: the ground speed which measures how fast you are moving across the earth, and the air speed, which measures how fast the air is moving across your wings.
You do not want to take off or land with a tail wind if the wind is blowing more than 1 or 2 kts...you will use a lot more runway and have a much higher impact on the landing gear if you land downwind.
(And yes, I hold an FAA Commercial Pilot Certificate...but I have been retired for years now.)
So that's why the safest bet at PJIA is usually landing and taking off to the east.
