Low level wind effect at HKIA

Buildings close to the runway may induce airflow disruptions leading to windshear/turbulence under certain wind conditions.  During the prevalence of strong north to northwesterly winds, there have been reports of windshear/turbulence from aircraft landing on the south runway of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) from the west.  Such windshear/turbulence is expected to be associated with the hangars over the western part of the airport.  Numerical simulations were performed to study the low level wind effects of these hangars.  The simulated results suggested that in northwesterly/northerly winds with a background speed of about 15 knots or more, there is a possibility of building-induced turbulence and windshear effects over the touch-down zone of RWY07R.  These results are used for establishing the criteria for the issuance of windshear warnings.  They are also promulgated to pilots in the Aeronautical Information Publication of Hong Kong.

Figure 1 Examples of the numerical simulation results of the wind fields passing the hangars to the north of the runway under north to northwesterly winds