Dust Devils - What to do?

[alex79]

Hi

Just planning a trip from the cold south of the land up to the outback and had a look at some area forecasts and read dust devils for the first time.

I did a bit of googling and found comments ranging from extremely dangerous to just fly through them. To avoid getting similar responses, let me break down my question

(all in context of a single-engine Cessna at 5000-8000 feet)

1) anybody had actual encounters with a dust devil in the outback?
2) what does it really do to the AC? i.e. up/down draft on the entire plane or just parts of it
3) damage of the plane, especially prop?
4) is it difficult to see and avoid them? And what is the best strategy to do so?


Thanks