Narrative:

Eight miles northeast of the field; I called the cdw tower for landing; having been handed off from new york approach. I was advised to report a 3 mile final for runway 22. I requested a wind check. The report from the tower was 'zero seven zero at ...; gusting 14'. I don't recall the exact wind (I believe it was 9 mph). I then requested runway 4; and was told to report left downwind runway 4. I then requested a right downwind since I was coming from the east/northeast. The tower approved my request. On final approach; the airplane did not 'settle' correctly and was very 'squirrelly' on short final. I noted that even though my airspeed was 70 KTS; the ground was moving way quicker than it should have been for the given winds from ATC. I executed a go-around with no incident. Upon climb out; I asked again what the winds were - and again; ATC reported them from a 070 heading gusting 14 KTS. At this point; a pilot on the ground radioed the tower and said that the windsock was definitely from the west. At that point; the tower explained that the wind gauge equipment was up for maintenance the day before and that there was some sort of problem. At this point; I requested runway 28 and the tower said that runway 28 was closed; but asked if I would take 22. I tear-dropped my approach; came back to land on 22. I was cleared to land 22. The approach was stabilized and 'solid' with the airspeed and ground speed making sense. I landed without incident. From my experience it seemed that the wind reading was the reciprocal of what was the actual wind. A special thanks to the pilot on the field who had the windsock and decided to report in.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Pilot approaching CDW reported that the wind gauge equipment was down for maintenance and Tower reported inaccurate winds causing an approach with tailwinds. The Reporter executed a go-around and landed on the opposing runway with a headwind.

Narrative: Eight miles Northeast of the field; I called the CDW Tower for landing; having been handed off from New York Approach. I was advised to report a 3 mile final for Runway 22. I requested a wind check. The report from the Tower was 'Zero Seven Zero at ...; Gusting 14'. I don't recall the exact wind (I believe it was 9 MPH). I then requested Runway 4; and was told to report left downwind Runway 4. I then requested a right downwind since I was coming from the East/Northeast. The Tower approved my request. On final approach; the airplane did not 'settle' correctly and was very 'squirrelly' on short final. I noted that even though my airspeed was 70 KTS; the ground was moving way quicker than it should have been for the given winds from ATC. I executed a go-around with no incident. Upon climb out; I asked again what the winds were - and again; ATC reported them from a 070 heading gusting 14 KTS. At this point; a pilot on the ground radioed the tower and said that the windsock was definitely from the West. At that point; the Tower explained that the wind gauge equipment was up for maintenance the day before and that there was some sort of problem. At this point; I requested Runway 28 and the tower said that Runway 28 was closed; but asked if I would take 22. I tear-dropped my approach; came back to land on 22. I was cleared to land 22. The approach was stabilized and 'solid' with the airspeed and ground speed making sense. I landed without incident. From my experience it seemed that the wind reading was the reciprocal of what was the actual wind. A special thanks to the pilot on the field who had the windsock and decided to report in.

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.