What Is Windshear? Why Pilots Fly an Escape Manoeuvre

What a 2026 report describes

On 24 September 2026 the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) published its report on a flight from Italy to Scotland on 3 October 2025, a day when a storm brought gale-force winds. On the first approach the surface wind was reported at 29 knots gusting 45. Below 300 ft the airspeed began to fall, and at about 264 ft a windshear warning sounded. The crew flew the escape manoeuvre, left the windshear between 600 and 700 ft, and then flew a normal go-around.

A second warning came at about 50 ft on the next approach, and a third at another airport, at 745 ft. The system's manufacturer confirmed that it had worked as designed each time. No one was hurt. Our page on reserve fuel explains what that long evening did to the fuel.

What windshear is

An aircraft flies on the air moving over its wings. If it flies out of a strong headwind into calm air or a tailwind within a few seconds, its airspeed drops, and so does its lift, faster than the engines can make up for. Near the ground there is little height to lose.

One of the most dangerous causes is a microburst. The FAA's Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) describes it as a small, intense downdraft that spreads out in all directions when it hits the ground. The downdraft can reach 6,000 ft per minute, and surface winds of up to 45 knots can mean a 90-knot change from headwind to tailwind across it, within a few hundred feet of the ground. A microburst seldom lasts more than 15 minutes, keeps strengthening for about five minutes after it touches down, and can happen with little or no rain: sometimes a ring of blowing dust is the only sign.

How the warning and the escape work

According to the AAIB report, the aircraft's warning system watched for a loss of energy (a falling headwind, a growing tailwind or a strong downdraft). It was active from rotation up to 1,500 ft on take-off, from 1,500 ft down to 10 ft on approach, and up to 1,500 ft in a missed approach. A warning means a red message on the pilots' displays and a spoken "windshear, windshear, windshear".

The escape is flown by hand. Unlike a normal go-around, it uses maximum thrust rather than go-around thrust, leaves the landing gear and flaps where they are, and holds the pitch attitude for the best possible climb. Once clear, the crew returns to a normal climb. The AIM asks pilots to tell air traffic control "wind shear escape" as soon as the aircraft is safe, and to report windshear as a gain or loss of airspeed at given heights, so that the next crew knows what is waiting.

In AeroFox

AeroFox does not simulate windshear. What its go-around lessons do teach is the decision behind every escape: when an approach stops being safe to continue, you add power and climb away instead of pressing on. In the airliner lesson that is TO/GA at minimums when the runway is not in sight; in the trainer, a decision at 300 ft on an approach that is high and fast.

If you are a passenger

A sudden roar from the engines and a steep climb close to the ground can be a windshear escape or a go-around. It is the crew doing exactly what they train for. Keep your seat belt fastened and stay seated. There may be a wait in a holding pattern, another approach or a diversion; the operator in the report did not allow a third approach after two approaches abandoned for windshear.