The following are extracts from the Beech 36 manual which backs up the Doctors post.
1. Flight in severe turbulence must be avoided. (To remind – severe is defined as – The airplane may be momentarily out of control and occupants are thrown violently against the belts and back into the seat. Unsecured objects are tossed about)
2. You should watch particularly your angle of bank, making turns as wide and shallow as possible. Be equally cautious in applying forward or back pressure to keep the airplane level. Maintain straight and level attitude in either up or down drafts. Use trim sparingly to avoid being grossly out of trim as the vertical air columns change velocity and direction. If necessary to avoid excessive airspeeds, lower the landing gear.
3. For years, Beech POH’s and FAA approved AFM’s have contained instructions that the landing gear should be extended in any circumstance in which the pilot encounters IFR conditions which approach the limits of his capability or ratings. Lowering the gear in IFR conditions or flight into heavy or severe turbulence, tends to stabilise the airplane, assists in maintaining proper airspeed, and will substantially reduce the possibility of reaching excessive airspeeds with catastrophic consequences, even where loss of control is experienced.
4. Know your airplane’s limitations, and your own. Never exceed either.
However you should be cognisant of item 4, as one piston I flew, in the turbulence penetration procedures contained the caution “Do not lower the landing gear during flight in turbulence”. Why so? The aircraft had a gear speed of 140k (note a Beech 36 is 154 except in emergency) and the recommended turbulence penetration speed was 125 to 185k (manoeuvring speed B36 141k). You could in fact take it out to 210k and still be inside the dynamic stall limit. The Vne (no yellow arc on this aircraft) was 325k (B36 top of the green 167k) so you can appreciate from the numbers why the procedures were different. We were fortunate to have “g” meters as well, and the rolling “g” limit was two thirds of the regular limit, and I would assume this is why Beech comments about making wide and shallow turns at 2 above.
Remember too, that severe to a light aircraft will probably get a “light chop” remark from a 747 crew.