Tee Emm I spent 9 years ME IFR in sans weather radar 95% of the time before moving onto Dash 7/F28. Even now I rely on my eyes more than the 767 radar except for the blackest of nights.
Radar is NOT infallible. I'd love $1000 for every time I have sat looking at a towering Cu that doesn't show up on radar. If I could only have one or the other I'd rather have a strike finder.
Just because you don't understand something doesn't make it impossible.
I am VERY wary about offering advice on this thread. In 14000 hrs I have very rarely seen weather I wouldn't take off into but MOST of that has been in the tropics where the TS are not as scary. I am a LOT more circumspect about TS in SE QLD, NSW etc...they are a different breed of TS. In fact one of the VERY few times I absolutely would not take off was in Brisbane with black/green CBs and lightning all around and I was going somewhere in my Bonanza.
I would simply say feel your way carefully and build your skills. You'll learn nothing sitting on the ground.
One day you will stumble into a CB and when you do don't panic.
*Disconnect the A/P,
*Maintain heading/wings level,
*Use power as reqd to keep speed somewhere near Va
*DON'T try and maintain altitude.
Once you're in a CB the quickest way out is straight ahead...DON'T do a turn. Let the aircraft float up and down with the updrafts/downdrafts that way you won't pull the wings off.
It will be a wild ride but handled properly it is not a death sentence. I once, on a pitch black night, flew straight into a biggy at 14000' in a Queenair doing a paper run between Moresby and Lae. It was a pretty clear night too...as far as I know that was the only CB anywhere. I popped out the far side above 18000' after a pretty wild 60-90 seconds or so.
The one thing I DIDN'T experience in that wild ride was high G because I wasn't worried about altitude nor even too stressed about small pitch excursions. Just wings level and approximate speed control with coarse power and ride it out.
A mate of mine once flew under the anvil of a Tcu in an aerostar at about FL180...might have been a little higher...and copped a face full of hail which literally took out the windscreen and banged up the leading edges and prop spinners. He survived and got it on the ground. Lesson? NEVER fly downwind of a Tcu...even 10nm is too close downwind.
Personally I have never experienced hail down low where you'll be typically flying in a Chieftain. I would be VERY reluctant to fly in the flight levels at night without a radar/strike finder unless the weather was severe clear and there was some moonlight.
If you're approaching a line (that you can't go around) of TS at night watch the lightning closely...when you see an area that stays dark that is the way through. I have done that many times and it works.
Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 2nd Aug 2008 at 17:05.