Expert: Mike Burbridge - 3/12/2010

Question
if i were landing at an airport running east and west, with a 40 knot sustained wind coming from the southeast, from which direction would i want to land?

Answer
Depending on the aircraft, a 40 kt. crosswind may exceed the Maximum Crosswind Component of the aircraft, which would make the landing inadvisable.

That said, with few exceptions, you always want to land and take off into the wind. So, in your example, you would land toward the east.