Quote from Captainflame:
"Weather analysts report that the Convective weather pattern that night in that area did not present anything out of the ordinary, everyday equatorial storm system."
This is just the possible complacency I have mentioned in previous posts.... there is no such thing as
'everyday equatorial storms'. These storms happen frequently and their activity vastly exceeds the structural integrity of most commercial aircraft. Full Stop! Wise up please to some sort of 'go-ahead-itis'.
NO COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT SHOULD GO WITHIN 100nm LATERALLY of CB - ICTZ (Tropical Cumulo-Nimbus clouds) activity.....for any reason...FULL STOP. NEVER, EVER, don't even think about it.... or trying to overfly it. That is from MANY years experience and many grey hairs of wisdom!!
Many pilots/carriers have lived to tell the tale of bizarre encounters in this area. ICTZ CB activity that spans the globe around the equator is where Hurricanes/Typhoons form. I strongly feel that any FD crew operating anywhere in this area should be given specific AVOIDANCE weather understanding. Daylight views are one thing, however, night time...as many long-haul flights operate over....all one relies on is forecast, PIREPS, experience and WX Radar.
No matter how fancy and colourful the radar is; unless you are trained to interpret it accurately and trust that it is accurately reporting; you only have 'historical' data to go by. Vast activity happens in mere seconds at equatorial levels from a few hundred feet AGL to over 50,000ft.
At night, even with the most sophisticated WX radar, reports etc., what you see on screen is only an INTERPRETATION of what is going on. Dark red means dark red. Light green means light green. Both could indicate activity beyond the structural capacity of the commercial aircraft. Maybe this is also a speciality with new part-composite structures, such as used by Airbus & others in contemporary designs....whereby....the actual structure is not designed to 'X' structural limits...it is designed to be used in conjunction with 'damping devices' such as spoilers operating to assuage (lessen) vertical forces, for example.
We can get into many complicated design/structural issues if we want in this forum. However, there just seems a primordial lack of concern about flying into weather in the ICTZ, specifically anywhere near CB reports.
If you don't go anywhere near (as above), even if that means diversion/turn back you will have many happy landings and happy PAX (and fellow crew), who haven't endured many long minutes/hours of uncomforteableness/fear.
I rest my case.
Aiming for 'smooth as Silk' until I die and then let me be lifted to the heavens from mother earth in the widest ICTZ storm....sorta thing, guys & gals.
Sincerely,
capeverde2008
