Why do airplanes take-off and land against the wind?

Question

Why do they, does it prevent them from over speeding or something??

Answer 1

Take off and landing into the wind shortens the distance necessary to do either.

It can take twice the normal distance to take off or land when there is a tailwind and that could cause you to run out of runway too quickly.

Answer 2

Lift is a function of the air's speed over the top of the wing compared to along the bottom of the wing.  The difference in speeds creates a negative pressure along the top, hence "lift."  Taking off and landing into the wind puts faster air along the wing, the craft can maximize lift, and thus control.

Answer 3

Geeze, besides all the scientific answers these folks gave, Bob Seeger did a song about it.

Answer 4

Airplanes fly thanks to lifting force that is generated by the wings. The wings do this by moving forward through the air. All else being equal, the faster the wings move through the air, the greater the lift.

Flying into the wind causes the wings to move through the air more quickly without increasing the speed of the aircraft in relation to the ground.  This means that an aircraft flying into the wing can get into the air more quickly, without moving as fast in relation to the runway. It also means that a landing aircraft can land more slowly in relation to the ground.

For example, if an aircraft needs to be moving through the air at 120 mph in order to generate enough lift to take off, and there is no wind, then it must also roll along the runway at 120 mph before it can take off.  If it rolls into a 20-mph wind, however, it can take off when it is moving at just 100 mph in relation to the ground, because the additional 20 mph needed to leave the runway is provided by the oncoming wind.

Answer 5

when an aircraft takes off or lands into the wind, it gives them the ability to be traveling slower relative to the ground and still have lift.  Suppose a small aircraft has a stall airspeed, or the speed below which it doesn't produce enough lift to stay aloft, of 50mph.  If it comes in for a landing WITH a wind that's blowing 30mph, just to stay in the air until it touches down, the pilot has to be going at least 80mph ground speed.  However, if the plane landed in the opposite direction, the pilot could slow the plane down to as little as 20mph ground speed and still stay aloft until he was ready to touch down!  Slower groundspeeds are wonderful for heavier aircraft and/or short runways.

Answer 6

Get better lift over the wings for take off.

Slower landing speeds with better lift on landing.

Answer 7

going against the wind causes more lift

Answer 8

slight increase in airspeed will assist the take off and landings

Answer 9

yes, if u land with the wind behind you, the plane will take longer to stop. simple

Answer 10

Since the plane uses air to stay aloft, the more air going under the wing, the better it stays in the air. If it were to take off with the wind, it has to have more speed to get more air under the wings. Same with landing.

Answer 11

It reduces take off and landing distance.

Suppose an aircraft has a takeoff speed of 100 knots, but the wind is 10 knots, then it only needs to go 90 knots relative to the ground to reach the proper air speed, and that means less runway needed.

Now, take the same plane and make it take off with the wind on its back: it will have to go 110 knots ground speed before it has the required 100 knots air speed.

But, you may object, won't the wind help push the plane along?

Not very much. A 10 knots wind is negligible help for an aircraft equipped with enough jet power to reach 500 knots in cruise.

By the way, when certifying an aircraft, the performance figures are assuming only 1/2 of the wind speed helping (taking off with head wind) and 1.5 times the wind speed for tail wind, for the sake of conservatism (to account for gusting and such); so predicted takeoff and landing distances are usually longer than actual ones (again, for the sake of safety). The required distance, in turn, dictates how heavy the airplane can be and still be able to get airborne if the worst (an engine failing during the take-off) occurs. Sometimes, extreme conditions and a short runway will mean that some passengers have to stay behind so that the plane makes the maximum allowable weight.