Flying in rough weather
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2009
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From: Oxford, UK
Flying in rough weather
Following the R&N discussion of the Indonesian Airbus that has possibly been destroyed by flying into a thunderstorm, I would like to know what personal experience pilots reading this forum have of rough weather?
What was the absolute worst weather you ever encountered? Have you ever tempted fate in a CuNimb?
What was the absolute worst weather you ever encountered? Have you ever tempted fate in a CuNimb?
Joined: Dec 2013
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From: Paso Robles
It shows you are non-pilot asking such question. No sane pilot would be tempted to be close to a CB not to mention of flying into one. We pilots try to stay away at least 20 miles from any such weather system (and this is what airline pilots are being told too). And at this point I would refrain from making statements about what destroyed Air Asia flight - often such guesses (even educated guesses) aren't very close to what really happened.
Joined: Sep 2006
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From: Scotland
I once found a thunder storm between me and home base, a distance of 5-6 miles away, had a look to see if I could get round the side, no joy, decided to poke my nose into it to see how far it went, sudden serious turbulence nearly rolled me over, rain hit the screen I couldn't see through, a streak of lightning missed the wing tip by a few inches, all in the first few seconds. Smart 180 and call for diversion to nearest. Cup of coffee and a smoke and all was fine to go home.
Never again, 620 kg of wood and fabric at 2000ft, not the place to be.
Never again, 620 kg of wood and fabric at 2000ft, not the place to be.
Joined: Apr 2008
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From: France
Oh, Mary is a pilot. Time was, glider pilots used to seek out big clouds and do height gain flights in them. Quite a few fell out in rather more pieces than was comfortable and it went out of fashion. Usually now the height gains are done in mountain wave, which has its own points of interest.
I've done some cloud flying in gliders, usually with a turn and slip and a magnetic compass. Speed limiting airbrakes kept it all under control. True luxury is an artificial horizon and a bohli compass, and a GPS.
I always used to pick medium sized cumulus clouds, but sometimes even those could be a bit rough.
I never did find anything worse than Feshiebridge rotor, towing out with the windsocks pointing at each other.......
I've done some cloud flying in gliders, usually with a turn and slip and a magnetic compass. Speed limiting airbrakes kept it all under control. True luxury is an artificial horizon and a bohli compass, and a GPS.
I always used to pick medium sized cumulus clouds, but sometimes even those could be a bit rough.
I never did find anything worse than Feshiebridge rotor, towing out with the windsocks pointing at each other.......
Joined: Dec 1999
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From: Oop North, UK
Porterhouse, if you have never been in one then you are either very low hours or have been very lucky.
Yes they are avoided, but sometimes, for various reasons it is not possible to completely avoid. My worst was a Piper Seneca - no radar, being helped round a Cb by Barcelona radar, unfortunately there was one hiding behind the one they could actually see and vectored us into it, we were on a medical repat and landed in Reus with medical equipment all over the back of the aircraft!
Been through some nasty stuff in airliners as well, that mainly happens at night when it does not show on radar - nothing that would come near breaking up the aircraft, but still stuff you would not go through by choice!
Yes they are avoided, but sometimes, for various reasons it is not possible to completely avoid. My worst was a Piper Seneca - no radar, being helped round a Cb by Barcelona radar, unfortunately there was one hiding behind the one they could actually see and vectored us into it, we were on a medical repat and landed in Reus with medical equipment all over the back of the aircraft!
Been through some nasty stuff in airliners as well, that mainly happens at night when it does not show on radar - nothing that would come near breaking up the aircraft, but still stuff you would not go through by choice!
Last edited by foxmoth; 30th December 2014 at 22:10. Reason: Correcting autocorrect!
Joined: Sep 2011
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From: Belgium
Always avoided rough weather.
But once I had an issue flying my (ex) D-120.
The Jodel D-120 has light wings with all the mass centered in the fuselage.
At 4.000 ft, below an airway, without warning, the plane did 1.5 rolls and I ended up on my back with the nose about 30°high, still at cruise speed.
Continued the roll to level flight and landed at next airport.
No damage found, and I flew back to home base.
The girlfriend took the buss home.
The best we could think off is that I accicently crossed a vortex of an airliner.
The aera was between Brussels and Maastricht, they decend both ways in landing config.
Som ask; Why learn aerobatics? I was happy I did, and got out.
Ach, many, many moons ago. Too old to fly now.
But once I had an issue flying my (ex) D-120.
The Jodel D-120 has light wings with all the mass centered in the fuselage.
At 4.000 ft, below an airway, without warning, the plane did 1.5 rolls and I ended up on my back with the nose about 30°high, still at cruise speed.
Continued the roll to level flight and landed at next airport.
No damage found, and I flew back to home base.
The girlfriend took the buss home.
The best we could think off is that I accicently crossed a vortex of an airliner.
The aera was between Brussels and Maastricht, they decend both ways in landing config.
Som ask; Why learn aerobatics? I was happy I did, and got out.
Ach, many, many moons ago. Too old to fly now.
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: uk
I used to share flights with the owner of a C172 who had an IMC rating. This meant that I would sometimes fly in conditions which I would not have risked on my own, believing that he could take over if necessary.
One day, I was flying the leg out to LFAT and was confronted with a thunderstorm beyond which I could see brightness that suggested it was quite a small one. We entered very heavy rain, the air was quite smooth but ahead of me I could see a large inverted dome of cloud. It looked very smooth, almost solid. I decided to give it a wide berth, probably the only sensible decision I made that morning.
We eventually emerged the other side into bright sunshine and a pleasant flight to our destination.
If I hadn't gone flying that weekend I would have been sailing where that storm was centred. I asked a friend who did actually go what the weather was like on the ground. Apparently, Cowes High street was under a foot of water.
So this time, rain was the main hazard but I hate to think what would have happened if I had got close to that cloud. I learned enough to ensure that I would not do it again.
One day, I was flying the leg out to LFAT and was confronted with a thunderstorm beyond which I could see brightness that suggested it was quite a small one. We entered very heavy rain, the air was quite smooth but ahead of me I could see a large inverted dome of cloud. It looked very smooth, almost solid. I decided to give it a wide berth, probably the only sensible decision I made that morning.
We eventually emerged the other side into bright sunshine and a pleasant flight to our destination.
If I hadn't gone flying that weekend I would have been sailing where that storm was centred. I asked a friend who did actually go what the weather was like on the ground. Apparently, Cowes High street was under a foot of water.
So this time, rain was the main hazard but I hate to think what would have happened if I had got close to that cloud. I learned enough to ensure that I would not do it again.
Joined: Jan 2008
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From: lancs.UK
@ Porterhouse May i respectfully suggest you study your target better before firing? 
Ms. Meagher makes no secret of her age.....(likely old enough to have changed your nappies *diapers* ) She has long experience flying and instructing in gliders and has plenty of SEP experience , both as tug-driver and GA.
"It is better to keep quiet and let people think you are stupid, than open your mouth and prove it"
(quotation paraphrased but that's the gist of it!
Ms. Meagher makes no secret of her age.....(likely old enough to have changed your nappies *diapers* ) She has long experience flying and instructing in gliders and has plenty of SEP experience , both as tug-driver and GA.
"It is better to keep quiet and let people think you are stupid, than open your mouth and prove it"
(quotation paraphrased but that's the gist of it!
Joined: Sep 2006
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From: 23, Railway Cuttings, East Cheam
Never been in anything really bad but one man's bad is another man's OK in my experience. I've flown with other pilots who have commented how rough it is and I have barely noticed. Tight straps, that's the answer.
I did run out of control authority landing a glider once. I was caught out by a line squall and bunged on another 20 knots to my approach speed to make sure I still had control. I didn't, the last 100 feet or so were with full left stick and rudder just to keep straight while the hail was tring to make a good job of turning the canopy opaque. I remember being about 30 ft off the deck with about 70 knots on the clock and in the last ten feet the speed just dropped in half a second or so to about 35. Just lucky I landed OK albeit a little sideways. Although no luck involved in making the decision to come in very fast which is what saved my bacon.
I did run out of control authority landing a glider once. I was caught out by a line squall and bunged on another 20 knots to my approach speed to make sure I still had control. I didn't, the last 100 feet or so were with full left stick and rudder just to keep straight while the hail was tring to make a good job of turning the canopy opaque. I remember being about 30 ft off the deck with about 70 knots on the clock and in the last ten feet the speed just dropped in half a second or so to about 35. Just lucky I landed OK albeit a little sideways. Although no luck involved in making the decision to come in very fast which is what saved my bacon.
Joined: Jun 2002
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
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From: Nanaimo (CAC8)
No sane pilot would be tempted to be close to a CB not to mention of flying into one. We pilots try to stay away at least 20 miles from any such weather system
You must be a power pilot. Glider pilots are often closer to Cbs than that, although these days, most would not actually venture into one deliberately.
Twenty years ago I was flying with a friend in a two-seat glider at Claresholm in Alberta. There was lots of lift but the day was very unstable with some of the Cu having showers beneath them. We noticed two of the shower clouds upwind of the airport were becoming darker and over-developing. They were about three miles apart and would pass either side of the airfield.
We were quite high - about 5000' AGL - so we decided to fly upwind between the clouds and wait until they had passed. At this point, we had a message from on high - a bolt of lightning right off the nose, from an apparently clear blue sky!
Time for Plan B - a quick descent and landing. By the time we were downwind, the two clouds had coalesced and the gust front had moved through the airport. Our approach speed was 80 kts and after landing, we sat on the runway, airbrakes out, "flying" at 30 to 40 kts in pouring rain for 15 minutes!
Usually now the height gains are done in mountain wave, which has its own points of interest.
A tow pilot friend of mine, with over 10,000 tows in his log book, used to say "The rotor's not rough until you get rolled inverted!"
Joined: May 2011
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From: Philippines
I used to glide at Dunstable and some of the old timers used to fly up in cb's for altitude record flights. I just did it in fair weather cu's. Here is the AAIB of a lightning strike to a Dunstable glider in 1999: http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources...pdf_500699.pdf
Joined: Dec 2011
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From: Cambridge
Why is it that seemingly every time someone posts a perfectly reasonable question about some dangerous aspect of flying, there is a response like that from Porterhouse?
One of the major benefits of participating in forums like this is to help improve safety by understanding what is safe, what isn't safe and, especially, where the line between the two lies.
I for one think the question is interesting and look forward to continuing to read the experiences of others. Personally, I can't remember ever having been in a weather situation that has really scared me. But then, maybe there has been one that should have?
BTW, from other discussions I've had with Mary on here, I've no reason whatsoever to question her credentials as a pilot. I'd be interested to know the basis on which PH draws his conclusion about that.
One of the major benefits of participating in forums like this is to help improve safety by understanding what is safe, what isn't safe and, especially, where the line between the two lies.
I for one think the question is interesting and look forward to continuing to read the experiences of others. Personally, I can't remember ever having been in a weather situation that has really scared me. But then, maybe there has been one that should have?
BTW, from other discussions I've had with Mary on here, I've no reason whatsoever to question her credentials as a pilot. I'd be interested to know the basis on which PH draws his conclusion about that.
Joined: Sep 2006
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From: 23, Railway Cuttings, East Cheam
Glider pilots are often closer to Cbs than that, although these days, most would not actually venture into one deliberately.
Joined: Mar 2014
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From: The World
Glider pilots are often closer to Cbs than that, although these days, most would not actually venture into one deliberately.
We have to be precise in using our words, as we are only responsible for what we write, not what others read.
Joined: Nov 2000
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From: Cambridge, England, EU
a bolt of lightning right off the nose, from an apparently clear blue sky
I couldn't get past them, and had to land somewhere to wait for them to go over.
Joined: Sep 2006
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From: 23, Railway Cuttings, East Cheam
I guess his glider came out minus wings, but he earned two, probably ...
Normally when we say 'His wings fell off' then I think most people would take it for granted that we were talking about the aircraft. If I said 'My VOR failed' then you wouldn't assume that I have an inbuilt VOR in my leg.
Joined: Jun 2001
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From: England
I remember sitting in a runway caravan waiting for some weather to pass. We all piled our logbooks up in the caravan to avoid losing them as we ran around the airfield doing glider retrieves etc. for interest we read each other's logbooks. I picked one up.....
On his third solo the comments section read 'Flew into Cb , glider broke up, parachuted to safety'. I bet that one was pretty bad.
On his third solo the comments section read 'Flew into Cb , glider broke up, parachuted to safety'. I bet that one was pretty bad.