Hand flying Airbus 330 in turbulence

[DA50driver]

Can anyone tell me what it is like to hand fly a 330 in severe turbulence at FL350?

There is Youtube video of an Airbus 319/320/321 doing a low level go around on a bumpy day. It looks like there i some pilot induced wing movement due to the pilot getting tossed around.

On a related note I think enhanced vision systems should be mandatory. I fly along the equator on a regular basis, and FLIR and radar together is ten times better than radar alone. There is no way I will accidentally end up in a CB using this equipment.

[Henry VIII]

Being a frequent equatorial flyer you are aware that sometimes the clouds top and horizontal extent put you in the decision to enter somewhere within them or divert to an airport where to wait next day.

[mitchnvic]

I understand most of the jargon on here, but not "CB" - say which?

[Ten West]

Cumulonimbus. :ok:

Cumulonimbus cloud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulonimbus)

[kijangnim]

Greetings,

A good multiscan weather Radar is more than enough,:ok: I wonder how good it would be for your eyes looking through FLIR with lightning :}

[mitchnvic]

Thanks Ten West! But....why not "CN" instead of "CB" (or is it just arbitrary...)?

[DA50driver]

Unless you are actually in the clouds lightning is not that terribly bright, not a problem. I can also display my FLIR and HUD on my heads down screens if i don't want to look outside;)

The flir keeps you out of the tunderstorms in the first place. It can not replace the radar, it complements it nicely though. (Once you are in the clouds the flir is useless).

CB is the meteorological abbreviation for Cumulonimbus. Cumulus means big and billowy, nimbus means rain. Also referred to as cloud nine. (The ninth group of clouds).

[kijangnim]

Greetings,
besides the Lightning, you are supposed to see through the clouds when you use FLIR, so using it would not enable you to see the CBs or any other clouds in fact :confused: , because it will be as if there where no clouds at all, which is not what we want :}

[Gulfstreamaviator]

FLIR has its uses, but it only shows a temperature difference.

I use it on climb out, as an visual on the Head up or head down display to show the location of the actual convective activity, rather than try to only use the radar, which as we all should now by now, reflects the moistire droplets that are in the atmosphere. Radar is also only as good as the operator, and the wave length that is in use. The wave length is optimised for the large water droplets that make up the core of any convective activity.

FLIR will show the VISIBLE tops of cloud.

I almost lost control of the G550 last year trying to outclimb a large build up near KL, just ran out of power (unusual), airspeed, and control at the same time....
I had Radar,FLIR,lightning, and the full moon to help, but still almost lost it.....for those who are interested the eyebrows were fully visible, and did their job.

Lastly, still more creep, in the G550 as I hope the new bus have is a method of downloading "real time" radar and overlay this data on my PFD, I can also overlay the current "forecast" winds at that level.
Combined with all other toys, i can still mess up.

[DA50driver]

The flir only senses temperature differences. If you are in a cloud you only see a blur on the screen. Like gulfstreamaviator said it is a great complement to the radar as the cloud is a different temeperature than the air around it. Great for avoiding buildups, especially at night.

I am still wondering if anyone has hand flown a sidestick through moderate or severe turbulence. There is someone over on the main AF447 thread bringing that up now, but I still haven't heard from anyone with any experience with this.

[kijangnim]

Greetings,

I saw demo flight using EVS Enhanced Visual System, enabling to see the runway through the clouds :confused: , using HUD as the interface, with this set up the aircraft will be able to descent to 100 feet on a NPA.
So there is obviously something I dont understand.

[VinRouge]

Its all to do with this:

http://galathea3.emu.dk/billeder/satelliteeye/projekter/phytoplankton/Phyto_4_L.jpg

Water vapour (actually the OH- bonds) absorb a LOT of emmissions in the IR band, but Visible light is attenuated more. Thus, in fog, you cannot see the runway due to fog due to severe attenuation, however, the runway is still visible at short ranges using IR.

In cloud, the proportion of Water per m^3 is much higher than in fog, thus much higher attenuation and thus far shorter range.

Outside of cloud, there is no attenuation, every object by its inherent nature emits IR (yes, even you) and this makes FLIR very useful in picking out CBs in the dark. Unfortunately, CBs emit little visible light other than the flash of lightning. Otherwise they would be glowing in the dark.

I use my NVGs more enroute than I do at the pointy end; they are a fantastic aid with the Radar for picking out distant cells. If you are interested, NVGs work in the Near-IR spectrum.

Radar IS attenuated by water vapour, this is why you get shadows behind really nasty cells and this is why you can penetrate one really nasty wall to find another, even nastier one just behind it!

[kijangnim]

Greetings
RedWine :ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok:

[VinRouge]

No Snags.:cool:

[bobrun]

I almost lost control of the G550 last year trying to outclimb a large build up near KL

I'm curious as to why you chose to try to outclimb a growing storm?? Your story is a good example of why almost everyone doesn't do it! Just curious really why you took that decision.

[kijangnim]

Greetings,
2 things have a better rate of climb than an Airplane:

CBs
Mountains
:}

[6f1]

Flying the A330 in turbulence is no different to any other aircraft,all these landing incidents you mention are caused by over controling which can happen with any aircraft!

[Iceman49]

RE: VinRouge post and weather, the following link takes you Dr Ed Zipsner, guru in tropical storms. NASA - Meet Dr. Ed Zipser: Meteorologist who Specializes in Predicting and Measuring the Severity of Rainstorms (http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/zipser_bio.html)

[Thermal Rider]

For non-pilot or WX buff readers check out below link to understand why "CB". METAR/TAF Conversion Card (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oso/oso1/oso12/document/guide.shtml)

[WHBM]

There is Youtube video of an Airbus 319/320/321 doing a low level go around on a bumpy day. It looks like there i some pilot induced wing movement due to the pilot getting tossed around.
If this video is the one I suspect it is (TAP Air Portugal A321 at Lisbon) it shows an issue which developed some years ago with the A321, only, when approaching with full flap, only, and certain combinations of crosswinds.

I understand it was overcome with a software modification, but the A321 was prevented from making full flap approaches for some months while the change was developed and tested. As a result BMI had to substitute other types into Belfast City, a notably short runway, during this time, where approaches without full flap could not be made.

[DA50driver]

The lower minima are due to the fact that you will pick up the runway environment due to heat differences between the air and other objects. It works quite well in cold climates, around the equator there is not much temperature differences so we use it for CB spotting instead.