Effect of Wind farms on aviation?

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Scottish_flyer

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Michael_91
Hi,
Im currently researching into my dissertation: looking at how wind farms are effecting aviation. I'm interested to know if any pilots feel that the erection of wind farms have effected the way in which they fly. Aswell as the effect on ATC Radar. I'd appreciate it if you could spend some time filling out my short online survey which can be found at the link below. free to email me at if you have any further questions or information: windfarmsandaviation@gmail.com

My online anoynmous survey can also be found online at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...JhUUE6MQ#gid=0

Thankss in advance,

Michael
 
Yea I used to know a crop duster who would try and fly through the spinning blades of the wind turbine. Well... yea... he's not with us anymore.
 
I took the survey. Wind farms are not a factor for my flying at all, even though there are quite a few in my part of the country. I fly thousands of feet above them. If a wind turbine is ever a factor in one of my flights then I'll have much bigger things to worry about!
 
I don't do surveys. That said, if you contact Travis AFB, they have a wealth of data on this subject. Travis Approach definitely gets false contacts from an adjacent wind farm and has spent lots of money trying to fix the problem.
 
Not much of a factor, I kinda like seeing the rotating turbines. The only negative I can think of is the turbines being placed in an emergency landing area.
 
Aeric said:
Not much of a factor, I kinda like seeing the rotating turbines. The only negative I can think of is the turbines being placed in an emergency landing area.
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But they are generally in rows, and you can easily land between em.
 
Yet another ill-conceived survey.

NOTHING you hear on this board is authoritative, and using it to draw conclusions in your dissertation makes your dissertation useless.

You might get some leads on where to find authoritative information -- like the reference to Travis (there may also be an issue for Edwards due to the big and growing wind farm to the west -- but it's a lot further from the field than Travis deals with). But that survey is useless. You might as well survey your classmates or a bunch of trained monkeys.

Having said that, wind turbines are obstructions. Even the really big ones are much less significant than TV towers. They might be a factor climbing out of C83 on a hot day (because they top a hill), but in most cases, they aren't significant except as cross-country landmarks.
 
They give me something neat to look at on the otherwise boring Indiana landscape. I always know when I am getting close to Lafayette, IN when I can see them in the distance.
 
Another drive by survey?

I once had to destroy turbines so a damaged C5 can make an emergency landing, or was that a video game?
 
i think they stir up the air and trigger thermals so i'd say they are a good thing as long as they are in rows so the crop dusters can work between them.
 
I don't consider them to be much of a factor as long as they aren't within 10 miles or so of an airport and don't create any instrument flight hazards.

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Lots of wind farms in Iowa, thanks to the utility company MidAmerican Energy.

I find them useful because they let me see the wind direction on the surface. The wind turbines face into the wind, like a windsock, but they are MUCH bigger, so they're easy to see.

Aside from being a handy windsock, they don't affect me at all, as I fly much higher than them.
 
No problems with aviation, but big problems with global slowing. :yes:

All of the extra drag that would not be there due to the windmills has got to be slowing the earth down.... Global Slowing is the next cause dejour.

You heard it here first. ;)
 
Not keen on ridge flying my paraglider in front of windmills, on the other the more sport the better.
 
Lots of VORs that are unseable in sectors below 3,500 feet. But they are goign to be mostly gone in seven years....
 
PPC1052 said:
They give me something neat to look at on the otherwise boring Indiana landscape. I always know when I am getting close to Lafayette, IN when I can see them in the distance.
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They're to the Northwest, not actually in the town.

Our main VORTAC (from which one of the IAPs originates) is right between two clusters of wind turbine farms and has been for several years. It hasn't created much of an issue that I'm aware of. I flew here before the wind farm and after I came back, it was here in full force.

If I go to Bloomington, IL or Peoria, there are wind farms visible all along the route. It isn't exclusive to Lafayette by any means.

EDIT: Looks like the approach doesn't intersect any of the turbines.
 
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What I find interesting is in at least some wind farms, they have blinking red lights that appear to be synchronized to all flash at the same time. There is a miles long row of them along the south shore of Lake St. Clair - kind of weird to watch at night.

I don't know if it's deliberate or if they just all get turned on at the same time in the evening and are set for the same period.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
What I find interesting is in at least some wind farms, they have blinking red lights that appear to be synchronized to all flash at the same time. There is a miles long row of them along the south shore of Lake St. Clair - kind of weird to watch at night.

I don't know if it's deliberate or if they just all get turned on at the same time in the evening and are set for the same period.
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They are sync'ed on purpose so the lights define the line of turbines at a single glance... Pretty effective too...:yes:
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
What I find interesting is in at least some wind farms, they have blinking red lights that appear to be synchronized to all flash at the same time. There is a miles long row of them along the south shore of Lake St. Clair - kind of weird to watch at night.

I don't know if it's deliberate or if they just all get turned on at the same time in the evening and are set for the same period.
Click to expand...

If it weren't deliberate and actively synched, they would "beat."
 
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