Originally Posted by IO540
I don't see how a downdraught can force a plane into the ground.
I guess as soon as you're flying upwind it can. I can see what you're saying as long as you're flying downwind, although that probably assumes nice non-turbulent flow.
I imagine too that people have been caught out by believing they could go over a ridge in a windward direction because they were above the ridge to start with. In this situation they may not have had the climb rate to
maintain their altitude as they approached the peak, cutting through the descending airflow.
MQ.