On a recent trip to Ushuaia, Argentina I missed the opportunity to fly at the end of the world. I waited too long to make a scenic flight on the passenger seat and the wind was too strong when I finally planned the flight. The day before, I was warned that they wouldn´t fly if the wind reached 30 kt. Wow 30 kt! Holy cow, but I guess you gotta have a high wind tolerance to get any flying down south. The day I had planned to fly the wind was 36 kt gusting to 56 kt. No arguing from my side… I can only imagine how gusting 56 kt wind feels when flying in between the mountain peaks. Thanks, but not thanks! I guess I will keep this on my bucket list and use it as a reason to come back.
Check out the Aeroclub Ushuaia building and note the wind sack.
It must be quite an experience to fly in Ushuaia and take photos from the passenger position!!! To bad the wind did not collaborated!!
You need at least 15 knots of wind to put the wind sack in a vertical position, So if you see it in vertical position, you can only guess that the wind can be stronger than that!!!!
YES! I can remember from some long-gone windsurfing days that several whitecaps is a 4 on the wind scale and that day it looked more like a 6 or 7. Check out the Beaufort scale on Wikipedia. Rules of thumb, like the one you mention (at least 15 knots to put a wind sack in a vertical position) are helpful when flying somewhere without METAR and detailed wind information from the tower. Visual aids like the the Beaufort scale can be helpful there also.