Some 10 or 12 years ago I took a taxi to JFK to fly BA 747 to LHR. The weather was mind bogglingly awful, tropical type rain storm and severe gales. Once boarded, it was disturbing to be seated and feel the 74 being bounced around in the wind even still at the stand. The boss came on the PA and said there was a delay due to late arriving pax; like hell...no one in their right mind was going to move then. Incidentally the storm was so severe most of NY suffered a power failure that night.
Eventually we did take off and oh boy...lightning, yo yo-ing, lockers popping open, screams, the whole shebang. Me slumped further and further down the seat until we broke through the nasty stuff, then a bloody big G&T. Yup I'm the chicken!
But I'm somewhat heartened by these posts to know that the airframe can take it!!
Tell me please, is the autopilot still "in charge" or does manual flying take over, can the autopilot react that quickly to counter very violent turbulence?
GF