So if that's the case, if flying tru severe chops or inside huge CB's, do we slow down to Va or Vra?
I think any time you have a high chance of encountering
extreme turbulence (as defined)-for example loss of Radar in IMC with embedded TS---CAT or severe mountain wave activity--It will be a true commander's decision because you really wont know your actual Va as it varies with weight
Furthermore, below Vra/tp you may give up a large margin of your stall protection, so you increase the risk of a lower speed stall but despite a change in angle of attack you will hopefully avoid the stall and you can not impart more than a limit load upon the craft-if you do have an accelerated stall as a result of a vertical gust...I feel this may be controversial hence that long explanation I gave in those two links
Va is not a listed speed for operational use. So, in reality you wont compute/estemate it, unless you have the Vs1, and have taken the time to previously estimate it for your plane---further while the gust may not be sharp-edged enough to impart an instantaneous AoA change imparting the limit load--the gust may still force you to stall-therefore stall recovery also becomes a part of the whole mess---lastly the aircraft most likely never encountered such extreme stalls in certification therefore there's no really knowledge of what may happen--despite the load factor being [hopefully] under the limit load
you just have to---in that special case-- of possible,
Extreme Turbulence---Slow Way Way Down!!!
