I didn't actually hear this but suspect that the cockpit crew did...
about 1845 DEN time on arrival from DFW....T-storms had just passed through
on final approach, gear down, flaps down....then abruptly throttles full (I think) and rate of climb steep...the pilot later called it a "wind shear warning"....
Got my attention.

Not as dramatic as the clear air turbulence I experienced on a 747 from SIN to NRT when it felt like we went straight down...without warning..

You may be confusing the actual warning with "Sink rate, pull up" computerized warning, which is part of the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) and is unrelated to wind shear warnings. I believe wind shear warnings are communicated by the Tower controllers when wind shear alert systems detect wind shear conditions around the airfield and on final approach.

Sink rate as well as Windshear are both audiable warnings in the cockpit.

More than a few times while boarding I've heard the recording:
wind shear, wind shear, pull up, pull up

I thought United pioneered some sort of cockpit wind shear alert system?

I noticed the FAA had a ground hold at DEN for weather / wind shear this afternoon. As of 8:30 MDT the posting on the FAA site was this:

"Due to TSTMS/MICROBURST, there is a Traffic Management Program in effect for traffic arriving Denver International Airport, Denver, CO (DEN)."

I take back what I said - there is a computerized windshear system, now that I think about it, but I don't think "pull up" is part of the warning. I think the warning is just "wind shear, wind shear."

Windshear and GPWS aural alerts are totally independent of one another.

"(2 beeps), Windshear, Windshear!" is annunciated when the aircraft's windshear detection system indicates a windshear in progress. Some aircraft are also equipped with predictive windshear warning systems, which will annunciate (depending on model) "Caution, windshear ahead!" or "Caution, microburst ahead!"

GPWS aural warnings operate off a totally separate system which makes use of, among other things, data from the aircraft's radio altimeter, vertical speed indicator, pressure altimeter, IRS units, and in some cases, EGPWS. This system generates the warnings such as "Sink rate!" or "terrain... whoop whoop, pull up!" These warnings are different and may vary from airplane to airplane, obviously.

The reason you hear the windshear and GPWS warnings together sometimes when boarding is because it's standard procedure to test the GPWS, and (at least in Boeing aircraft), pressing the GPWS test button tests the windshear warning system at the same time, normally: "Terrain, terrain... whoop whoop, pull up....... windshear, windshear!" (in that order).

You'd never want to hear all three of those warnings at the same time on an airplane you were flying.

I hear those alot when traveling to DEN, LAS and home to RNO...its a huge problem at LAS and RNO...any one who has landed there in the late afternoon, early evening can attest to that.

I flew through DEN yesterday afternoon and we had some real bad turbulence. It was the first time I had ever heard planes reporting severe turbulence on CH 9 before. The pilot asked just before landing if there were any reports of wind shear. On my connecting flight we had to go way out of the way to avoid the weather. I heard it was just as bad today also. My friends flight got diverted to COS.

That's believable at DFW. Texas t-storms are legendary and there is a long history of wind shears there, including on that caused the crash of a Delta Tristar in 1985. If memory serves DFW was one the first airport to get a wind shear detection system, no doubt upgraded a time or two since then.

Fortunately for all of us, technology and scientific understanding has improved dramatically since then.

I once heard the control tower warn the plane that I was on that the measurement devices at the end of the runaway was reporting windshears. This was a few minutes before we were landing. They didn't say anything more about it though and we landed without incident.

This occurred when we were flying into a southern airport (I believe it was Nashville) and there was a nasty storm striking the area. They had told us when we departed Little Rock that there was a storm in Nashville and depending on how the weather looked, we might skip Nashville and go on to the flight's next destination. As we got closer to Nashville, I could hear pilots reporting turbelence. We were experiencing turbulence as well and our pilot asked for permission to move to another altitude. He was told it wouldn't help with the turbulence. Shortly thereafter, I heard a pilot tell the control tower that they were going to skip it and move on.

It was definitely nervewracking. Once I got off the plane, I promised myself I would never again listen to the control tower during a thunderstorm.

Just arrived at DEN and that wx delay would explain the earlier cancellations from SFO and the packed plane I was on!

Out of curiosity, what type of planes is COS rated to handle? Can it take a 777? (I think Speedbird 219 was diverted there this evening (according to Flytecomm...will find out in the morning when I see my colleague who was on that flight))

Believe the MD-88s have a bunch of those verbal warnings (including shaker-sticks?). It's interesting being in F, and hearing the stall warning go off a few times, seconds before wheels-down...

Steve B.

I think 777s would be no problem at COS. UA used to fly DC-10s in there. Since the fuel load for departure up to DEN would be minimal I'm sure a 777 could do a good imitation of a rocket on takeoff!