Flying through thunderstorms
Discussion
6 years ago I was stuck at Frankfurt airport because of a thunderstorm passing overhead. Once the storm cleared normal service was resumed.
Fast forward to last week and a flight between Calcutta and Mumbai and they sent us up straight through a massive thunderstorm. Bloody terrifying!
What are the rules on such things?
Fast forward to last week and a flight between Calcutta and Mumbai and they sent us up straight through a massive thunderstorm. Bloody terrifying!
What are the rules on such things?
Flew to the Isle Of Man many years ago from Blackpool Airport. Took off in heavy rain which pilot thought would clear. It didn't & we flew into a horrendous thunderstorm.
Pilot decided he would continue with the flight & dropped as low as he dare to try to avoid the storm. He said jhe was flying at jus ver 500 foot above sea level & I know we were very low.
Scared stupid - sailed back to the mainland with the Isle Of Man Steam Packet Co as didn't want to get back on a plane,
Pilot decided he would continue with the flight & dropped as low as he dare to try to avoid the storm. He said jhe was flying at jus ver 500 foot above sea level & I know we were very low.
Scared stupid - sailed back to the mainland with the Isle Of Man Steam Packet Co as didn't want to get back on a plane,
No strict rules on it but you'd be a fool to try it through some of the build-ups you get in the tropics (or elsewhere for that matter). I've flown through a number of CBs but you have to judge it before committing and if there's a way around, you take that way.
I wrote a brief bit on flying near thunderstorm a couple of months ago:
http://indopilot.blogspot.com/2012/01/thunderstorm...
Thankfully the dry season is starting, so I don't see too many now
I wrote a brief bit on flying near thunderstorm a couple of months ago:
http://indopilot.blogspot.com/2012/01/thunderstorm...
Thankfully the dry season is starting, so I don't see too many now
Thunderstorms.....Ok, I expect to be flambed with this......
Flying over Venezuela last year... at night @35k ft, during a tropical thunderstorm.
On numerous occasions, I saw lightning forks, not only going down, but up ! High up into the dark part of the sky !
Was I drunk ?? Does lightning "earth" out into the atmosphere simultaneouly ?
Suppose only pilots and smart folk can can confirm this...
Flying over Venezuela last year... at night @35k ft, during a tropical thunderstorm.
On numerous occasions, I saw lightning forks, not only going down, but up ! High up into the dark part of the sky !
Was I drunk ?? Does lightning "earth" out into the atmosphere simultaneouly ?
Suppose only pilots and smart folk can can confirm this...
si-h said:
Thunderstorms.....Ok, I expect to be flambed with this......
Flying over Venezuela last year... at night @35k ft, during a tropical thunderstorm.
On numerous occasions, I saw lightning forks, not only going down, but up ! High up into the dark part of the sky !
Was I drunk ?? Does lightning "earth" out into the atmosphere simultaneouly ?
Suppose only pilots and smart folk can can confirm this...
They are called 'Sprites'. I've never seen one myself (despite being hit a few times myself whilst trundling through the skies) but they are reasonably well documented.Flying over Venezuela last year... at night @35k ft, during a tropical thunderstorm.
On numerous occasions, I saw lightning forks, not only going down, but up ! High up into the dark part of the sky !
Was I drunk ?? Does lightning "earth" out into the atmosphere simultaneouly ?
Suppose only pilots and smart folk can can confirm this...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning)
theboyfold said:
6 years ago I was stuck at Frankfurt airport because of a thunderstorm passing overhead. Once the storm cleared normal service was resumed.
Fast forward to last week and a flight between Calcutta and Mumbai and they sent us up straight through a massive thunderstorm. Bloody terrifying!
What are the rules on such things?
Perhaps this will explain why (at least around parts of the world where we understand the consequences) we 'down tools on the ramp' (the airport) (except Rome Fast forward to last week and a flight between Calcutta and Mumbai and they sent us up straight through a massive thunderstorm. Bloody terrifying!
What are the rules on such things?
)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur2arqwWkPs
Ginetta G15 Girl said:
Only a bloody idiot knowingly tries to fly through a CuNim.
Only a bloody idiot knowingly tries to fly under a CuNim.
Only a bloody idiot knowingly tries to fly over a CuNim.
You avoid the bloody things at all costs lest they smite you out of the sky!
AKA "Charlie Banger" = AVOID.Only a bloody idiot knowingly tries to fly under a CuNim.
Only a bloody idiot knowingly tries to fly over a CuNim.
You avoid the bloody things at all costs lest they smite you out of the sky!
Rest assured though, Michael Faraday pioneered the protections that modern Kites have employed over the years to prevent us all ending up deep fried at 20000 ft..
davepoth said:
My rather limited Meteorology studies at uni suggest it's the wind shear rather than the lightning that makes thunderstorms so dangerous for aviation - is that right?
Pretty much correct, also the hail damage that can occur (I did see once, a cracking photo of one of my companies kites that was well and truly pummelled by hail).Flew from LHR to JNB with BA a few years ago and when we got close JNB were having a doozy of a thunderstorm, I've never seen anything like it from a plane.
Ended up we had to go way past JNB, turn round and come back before attempting to land.... pilot said on the tannoy that we had one go at landing in JNB then we were off to the alternate.
Thankfully we made it into JNB but it remains the best flight I've had, purely due to the weather.
Ended up we had to go way past JNB, turn round and come back before attempting to land.... pilot said on the tannoy that we had one go at landing in JNB then we were off to the alternate.
Thankfully we made it into JNB but it remains the best flight I've had, purely due to the weather.
Flying back from Auckland to UK via Hong Kong in '96 and there were a number of storms over the Philipines - I was lucky enough to be sat on the flight deck as the Cathay 747 flew around each storm - They were like massive lanterns in the sky with all the lightning and the cloud went much higher than the 370000 feet we were at - Excellent flight.
Was on a Viscount in about '75 flying from Teeside to LHR when the starboard wing next to the window I was sat at got struck - Nothing much to report apart from a blaze of sparks and a little 'bump'.
Was on a Viscount in about '75 flying from Teeside to LHR when the starboard wing next to the window I was sat at got struck - Nothing much to report apart from a blaze of sparks and a little 'bump'.
ScoobyDood said:
Flying back from Auckland to UK via Hong Kong in '96 and there were a number of storms over the Philipines - I was lucky enough to be sat on the flight deck as the Cathay 747 flew around each storm - They were like massive lanterns in the sky with all the lightning and the cloud went much higher
I saw simliar over the Bay of Bengal. I think there's always a storm there so you can't wait until they've all gone.But why is cumulonimbus abbrevated to CB and not CN?
I took a lightning strike one night about 1000 miles out over the Atlantic. It caused all the nav systems and the compasses to fail, including the E2B standby compass (a small 'tell-tale' type compass mounted above the windshield) which resolutely sat there spinning aimlessly.
Fortunately my Navigator was good at AstroNav and we navigated to landfall using the stars and the periscopic sextant.
Later I took a lightning strike inside an active Cumulus over Bremen. A loud BANG and that was about it. We later found a pinhole in the crew entry door where the strike had occurred.
The worrying thing about CuNims is the violence of the windshear you can encounter from the extreme up and down currents. These may be great enough to cause physical damage to the a/c. Indeed a Hercules broke up over the Mediterranean after flying into a CuNim.
Anyone who has ever seen how rapidly Thunder Cells can grow will know why you don't want to go near them!
Fortunately my Navigator was good at AstroNav and we navigated to landfall using the stars and the periscopic sextant.
Later I took a lightning strike inside an active Cumulus over Bremen. A loud BANG and that was about it. We later found a pinhole in the crew entry door where the strike had occurred.
The worrying thing about CuNims is the violence of the windshear you can encounter from the extreme up and down currents. These may be great enough to cause physical damage to the a/c. Indeed a Hercules broke up over the Mediterranean after flying into a CuNim.
Anyone who has ever seen how rapidly Thunder Cells can grow will know why you don't want to go near them!
A lex said:
Ah, good old CB.
Im an air traffic controller. They are our nemesis!
Pilots will never, ever, knowingly fly under, through or over one.
Perhaps two times per year we will have a squall line of CBs that completely dissect our sector cutting it in two - trying to route aircraft around it is usually organised chaos, and on occasion bedlam.
Ive had to control aircraft flying 1-200nm off their normal route, inside other controllers airspace etc to try and 'beat' the storm. I really wish I could show you a video of it, as its hard to describe just the complete havoc these things create.
Still, its all good fun!
You do a cracking job sir. Thank you. (What area do you control?)Im an air traffic controller. They are our nemesis!
Pilots will never, ever, knowingly fly under, through or over one.
Perhaps two times per year we will have a squall line of CBs that completely dissect our sector cutting it in two - trying to route aircraft around it is usually organised chaos, and on occasion bedlam.
Ive had to control aircraft flying 1-200nm off their normal route, inside other controllers airspace etc to try and 'beat' the storm. I really wish I could show you a video of it, as its hard to describe just the complete havoc these things create.
Still, its all good fun!
We avoid CBs like the plague. Just to give ATC something to think about really.
So do thunderstorms only come in the the CB type of clouds? (Forgive my lack of weather based knowledge!). I've been looking for clips on YouTube that were as violent as the storm I flew through, but nothing quite comes close. The most amazing thing was how it turned from day to night as we hit the clouds, this made the lightning flashes more violent.
The pilot didn't seem to make any attempts to avoid the storms (as I have known other pilots to do). Is there an international code of conduct on this sort of thing, or does it come down to the pilot / ATC / airport combo at the time.
I've made hundreds and hundreds of flights and really have never known anything like it before.
The pilot didn't seem to make any attempts to avoid the storms (as I have known other pilots to do). Is there an international code of conduct on this sort of thing, or does it come down to the pilot / ATC / airport combo at the time.
I've made hundreds and hundreds of flights and really have never known anything like it before.
Ginetta G15 Girl said:
Fortunately my Navigator was good at AstroNav and we navigated to landfall using the stars and the periscopic sextant.
See, they have their uses after all!I guess if the night had been cloudy then it would be dead reckoning - maps and rulers. Hopefully all navigators still learn the basics?
theboyfold said:
So do thunderstorms only come in the the CB type of clouds? (Forgive my lack of weather based knowledge!). I've been looking for clips on YouTube that were as violent as the storm I flew through, but nothing quite comes close. The most amazing thing was how it turned from day to night as we hit the clouds, this made the lightning flashes more violent.
The pilot didn't seem to make any attempts to avoid the storms (as I have known other pilots to do). Is there an international code of conduct on this sort of thing, or does it come down to the pilot / ATC / airport combo at the time.
I've made hundreds and hundreds of flights and really have never known anything like it before.
I've experienced the same thing, seen a few out of the window of the plane that the pilot has flown around. Then been on another flight where we seemed to fly straight through it!The pilot didn't seem to make any attempts to avoid the storms (as I have known other pilots to do). Is there an international code of conduct on this sort of thing, or does it come down to the pilot / ATC / airport combo at the time.
I've made hundreds and hundreds of flights and really have never known anything like it before.
Im not a great flyer at the best of times, but if I see a thunderstorm on the forcast I start to brick it!
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