Originally Posted by
felixthecat
No, it was light to moderate at worst.
My FCOM Limitations makes no distinction with severe turbulence it states “ The turbulence penetration speed is 290-310KIAS/.82-.85M, whichever is lower”
So in the case of turbulence in my case, or in your case severe turbulence you would accelerate to the turbulence penetration speed? Where would that be referenced?
Many thanks
If it was a maximum speed it would say so. It’s not though, it is a target speed to fly in turbulence. My FCOM for the A320 says:
“Whenever possible, avoid areas with known or forecasted severe turbulence. If turbulence is unavoidable, aim to keep the speed in the region of the target speed given in this section, so as to provide the best protection against the effect of gust on the structural limits, whilst maintaining an adequate margin above VLS.”
The whole section is focused around turbulence penetration in level flight but nowhere does it say that you can or should treat the penetration speed as a maximum rather than a target in descent.
Something else to consider is that your manufacturer has decided their turbulence penetration speed gives adequate margin to both high and low speed limits. If you are going to fly slower, how much slower? If you’re going to decide for yourself that your margin to the stall is adequate, how have you decided this? On what basis is 270 knots ok but 250 knots is not? Do you have a factor on the stall speed in mind, a fixed buffer of a certain IAS or Mach? Just a feeling? To me you either consider the turbulence to be bad enough, or to possibly become bad enough, to fly the target speed, otherwise you should just fly normal speeds.