An airbus flight crew made a successful landing at den despite high winds which varied dramatically ...

Narrative:

On final approach in clear; VMC weather to den; winds were reported as 050/25 for runway 35L. While transitioning 2;000 AGL in manual flight; the navigation display showed winds 230/35. This wind disparity between our flight altitude and the surface combined with a visible haze layer beneath us indicated impending turbulence and potential windshear. At approximately 1;500 AGL we momentarily experienced a 25 KT tailwind as the winds shifted with the descending flight path. The most reasonable precaution to take in this phase of flight was increased airspeed while maintaining the landing configuration of flaps full. While approaching the 500 ft stabilized flight limit the first officer called the speed as 22 KTS above target and inquired as to whether I wanted him to increase the target v-app in the FMGC? I responded 'no; keep your eyes outside' as the speed was bleeding off and it appeared to me that we would be on v-app speed and at normal threshold crossing height over the runway. The airspeed in fact settled to about v-app plus 8 and the aircraft touched down well-inside the touchdown zone. With the exception of shifting winds (a very common phenomenon at den); there was no severe weather in the entire state and the approach path of the aircraft was predictable. While the stabilized approach criteria were not technically met; the resulting flight condition of the aircraft was predictable and entirely safe. In fact; with the particular flight condition on this approach; the higher yet decaying airspeed was entirely appropriate in my opinion. Also; were we to abandon the approach; identical conditions would be encountered again regardless of the runway chosen; and the very same precautions and handling would be appropriate. At no time were there windshear advisories or windshear/microburst alerts issued for den. This condition was due to stratified wind shifts rather than convective or frontal activity of any kind (again; a fairly common condition in den).

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Airbus flight crew made a successful landing at DEN despite high winds which varied dramatically with altitude and a high IAS at 500 AGL; factors which technically qualified as an unstabilized approach from which a go-around is the textbook response.

Narrative: On final approach in clear; VMC weather to DEN; winds were reported as 050/25 for Runway 35L. While transitioning 2;000 AGL in manual flight; the NAV display showed winds 230/35. This wind disparity between our flight altitude and the surface combined with a visible haze layer beneath us indicated impending turbulence and potential windshear. At approximately 1;500 AGL we momentarily experienced a 25 KT tailwind as the winds shifted with the descending flight path. The most reasonable precaution to take in this phase of flight was increased airspeed while maintaining the landing configuration of flaps full. While approaching the 500 FT stabilized flight limit the First Officer called the speed as 22 KTS above target and inquired as to whether I wanted him to increase the target V-App in the FMGC? I responded 'no; keep your eyes outside' as the speed was bleeding off and it appeared to me that we would be on V-App speed and at normal threshold crossing height over the runway. The airspeed in fact settled to about V-App plus 8 and the aircraft touched down well-inside the touchdown zone. With the exception of shifting winds (a very common phenomenon at DEN); there was no severe weather in the entire state and the approach path of the aircraft was predictable. While the stabilized approach criteria were not technically met; the resulting flight condition of the aircraft was predictable and entirely safe. In fact; with the particular flight condition on this approach; the higher yet decaying airspeed was entirely appropriate in my opinion. Also; were we to abandon the approach; identical conditions would be encountered again regardless of the runway chosen; and the very same precautions and handling would be appropriate. At no time were there windshear advisories or windshear/microburst alerts issued for DEN. This condition was due to stratified wind shifts rather than convective or frontal activity of any kind (again; a fairly common condition in DEN).

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	881638
Time
Date	201003
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	DEN.Tower
State Reference	CO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Airbus Industrie Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120 Flight Crew Total 19000 Flight Crew Type 500
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach

An airbus flight crew made a successful landing at den despite high winds which varied dramatically with altitude and a high IAS at 500 AGL; factors which technically qualified as an unstabilized approach from which a go-around is the textbook response.