Definition
An FAA-published reference document that provides pilots with practical information on recognizing, avoiding, and recovering from low-level wind shear encounters. It consolidates guidance on wind shear hazards, detection, decision-making before takeoff and landing, and recommended escape techniques.
Plain English
A handbook from the FAA that teaches pilots how to spot wind shear, stay out of it when possible, and fly out of it safely if they get caught in it.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA training material when discussing turbulence, thunderstorms, microbursts, and low-level windshear hazards.
Derivation
“Windshear” combines “wind” with “shear,” a word used for a cutting or sliding force. In aviation, it points to wind changing sharply over a short distance, which can suddenly affect an aircraft’s flight path.
Why Pilots Care
Provides practical steps that reduce the chance of altitude loss, stall, or loss of control when wind shear is encountered on takeoff or approach.
Intuition Check
Do not read “Guide” as a cockpit warning system or a weather report. Here it means an FAA training publication that explains a hazard and gives pilot guidance.
Example Sentence 1
Before her first trip into a thunderstorm-prone region, she reviewed the Pilot Windshear Guide to refresh her escape procedures.
Example Sentence 2
Following the recovery sequence outlined in the Pilot Windshear Guide allowed the crew to maintain positive climb gradient after the microburst encounter.