Outstanding replies – always good to learn from others experience – thanks guys.
On a similar note, I got caught in a ‘south westerly buster’ a little while ago along our south coast, again in an R44 and this time while instructing a student pilot on a cross country flight.
Fortunately I took control and slowed to 65Kts as we went under the cloud at 800’ AGL (cloud base was approx 1500’ – a churning angry mass of grey black turbulent cloud underneath which only became evident approx half a mile out from it).
I have photos which I could post later – scary!
As we hit the microburst IAS went instantly from 65Kts to 125Kts, and we were thrown around violently for a few seconds. A terrifying initial experience, and then had to sit in 45Kt gusting headwind for nearly half and hour trying to get to the airfield. No chance of landing in those conditions along the coast on route and sweated it out, eventually getting back to the airfield safely – just had to be gentle with the aircraft and ride with the turbulence as much as possible, coaxing the aircraft through it - lessons learned again!
Delta3 – You have obviously been in some severe conditions fairly regularly – thanks for the excellent practical info, and good to see you mention “…I swore not to get caught in that again…” – It never feels safe in the B206 or R44 with their teetering head systems in those conditions – and yet it is easy to find yourself caught there unawares if you don’t know what to look for, or are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Thanks for the good practical advice and informative posts …
