Flying in a storm last night?
 

I was visiting Cricklade in Wiltshire yesterday and while I was there, at around 6:30/7:00pm, a large thunderstorm came over. VERY dark grey VERY low clouds, torrential rain and forked lightning. During all this I heard a light aircraft flying over quite low, I looked up and saw what I think was an Auster or early tail dragging Cessna. I couldn't see it too well due to the mirk, but it was flying dead South right towards the heart of the storm.
If this was anyone on the forum I would be interested in hearing your experiences of that flight! :eek:

He obviously didnt make it!! :} :eek:

Hmmmm. That's what caused me to abort a trip to Compton Abbas and Kemble last night and scuttle off back to sunny East Anglia:{

I flew back from Liverpool on the day in question, arriving o/head stockenchurch around 17.15 (local) We could see the the CB's from much further north and they were obviously reaching very high altitudes.

It suddenly went very dark as we passed beneath them - got a bit bumpy too. Then the extreme rain came accompanied by lightning all around. I have to admit to seriously considering my options. My passenger seemed to be enjoying it, so we pressed on and passed into much clearer conditions by the time we approached Farnborough.

First time I have considered the benefits of weather radar.

Flt.....

Nice logic fltcom, care to re-word that?!:)

Stunned silence.
:(

fltcom, I take you are are just in wind up mode!! If not....:ugh:

Skyhawk wanted to hear about the storm.......end of story

Eh? What kind of reply is that fltcom?

Another case of "Press-onitis" then!:sad:

Its all good fun until it goes wrong! :rolleyes:

Sorry.....I dont do 'press on itis' kindly keep your ill judged opinions to yourself

I have to admit to seriously considering my options

Would be interested in what your options were.

Re storm
 

I was gonna pick up a friend from Benson but canx due to the forecaster saying the storms would arrive late afternoon. So I drove to Benson and whilst looking at ok vis and a little cloud build up wishing I had taken the plane since I got caught up in A34 car park. My 2 hour round trip took 4!! However better that way than being bold and getting caught in storms!

Re- fltcom's post -- we don't know anything about the aircraft type, equipment, experience etc perhaps so I guess we shouldn't judge too harshly. Having said that, it didn't read well...

Anyd :ok:

Alright, if he was flying "metman" or was in a C-130 going out storm hunting, then fine, but somehow I doubt that!.....

CB's and light aircraft are not a great combination!

...all I'm saying is we don't know :ok:

"It suddenly went very dark as we passed beneath them - got a bit bumpy too. Then the extreme rain came accompanied by lightning all around. I have to admit to seriously considering my options. My passenger seemed to be enjoying it, so we pressed on and passed into much clearer conditions by the time we approached Farnborough".


Well, its madness IMHO!! Who would honestly fly under CB's as described above in fltcoms post? "Extreme rain" "Lighning all around" and then the best bit- "My passenger seemed to be enjoying it so we pressed on" This has to be a wind up!! :D

Or if not a wind up, perhaps a re-read of Mr Thom's met book under the heading 'Thunderstorms' or the PINK AIC is required! :rolleyes:

Well, I reckon his one of his options was to exit FS2004 and do some work :-)

IIRC it is the recommended procedure in the US if you 'inadvertantly' enter a thunderstorm in a light a/c to fly straight through and out the other side maintaining a level attitude and wings level. Do not try to turn or maintain altitude as the biggest danger is to overstress the airframe and risk an inflight airframe failure. If this is the case here, then it would seem that fitcom may have acted appropriately. I am interested to hear what others would suggest if for example flying in IMC and inadvertantly entering an embedded CB.

Obviously, you would never knowingly fly into a developed CB!!

3FallinFlyer, agree entirely, maintain course and fly out other side.

It doesnt seem in this case that he did 'inadvertantly' fly into these CB's.


I think this is the crux of the matter, knowingly flying into active CB's.

In the interests of being totally accurate (even pedantic), I don't believe that CB penetration occured, but that the poster flew underneath.

Of course, I don't know what the cloudbase was, as it could be anything from a few hundred feet to a few thousand and thus the ground clearance implications of downdrafts are unclear in this context.

But put it this way, I would not do it ... and I have inadvertently penetrated an embedded cell in a light aircraft, which was one of the scariest experiences of my life. And we got away very lightly.