Purple clouds

[McKenster]

On my regular flight back to LHR from Zur with swiss, i had a 'fun' moment about hmm 3/4 weeks back might of been around 23/24 Oct approaching mainland UK. Cloud height i guess was near to our descent path as we approached uk mainland. As it was about 18:00BST clouds were dark in the evening setting sun looking purple and quite tall. Wasn't raining. As we started to skim them you could feel a reasonable amount of movement. I was in row 31 on my A320 so near the tail.
As we dropped into them it became a bit more bumpy then smoothed, then all a sudden jeezus christ i remember leaning pushing back into my seat, sitting upright which i guess meant the nose dipped forward at the same time a feeling of freefall and the engines suddenly spooling up. Wow my pooper went, the guy behind me jesticulated something in german i recognised a few swear words.

After that we dropped through and things weren't so bad after that. Im an ok flyer but i wasn't happy about that. Sh't the life out of me. Was it just a cold air pocket? Wasn't windy so i dont think it was shear?

Is this also related to the time of year? As since about Sept time my Uk/Zur flights have become slightly more choppy heading back to UK. Mixture of Warm/Cold fronts etc. LHR/Zur bound is nearly always smooth and relatively calm on the approach.

Dont reply if it's going to get worse ;)

Id like to just add how professional the Swiss pilots and staff are, great job they do.

[Dash8driver1312]

Any cloud equals some sort of turbulence, nature and severity will depend on the atmosphere at the time, or even if you cross the path of another aircraft ;-)


Aaaaannnd...for your sake I hope the nose is always proceeding in a forwards fashion! Downwards, on the other hand...only when appropriate.

[DaveReidUK]

Sit nearer the CofG next time :O

[KBPsen]

Wasn't windy...Did you open a window to check or did you just stick a finger in the air?

[TWT]

my pooper went

Where did it go ?

[PAXboy]

McKenster Welcome to our friendly cabin on the good airship PPRuNe. :} We can be lively but please don't turn in your ticket too quickly. ;)

As Dash8driver1312 says, you can never be 100% sure what a piece of 'empty' air will hold - because it ain't empty. There are weather radar units that are very good at showing where water vapour is - and the turbulence involved with it - but air of different pressure zones does not show up, unless there are extreme conditions. The good news about aircraft is that they are designed to take considerably more than your 'pooper' can! If the conditions are uncomfortable, the flight crew will be looking for a route away from that patch.

That said, the usual passage of an aircraft in ascent and descent will be moving rapidly through the layers of air and cloud and will usually 'run out the other side' before any direct action is needed.