Staying clear of T-storms

Then there was the navy pilot who bailed out over Kansas years ago in a thunderstorm, stayed in the air for something like 45 minutes, hit hard but lived after long recovery.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
Then there was the navy pilot who bailed out over Kansas years ago in a thunderstorm, stayed in the air for something like 45 minutes, hit hard but lived after long recovery.
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Marine pilot William Rankin, he landed in North Carolina
 
I recall being told to descend in the Aztec. Went from 500 fpm descent to 2000 fpm climb with throttles at idle and indicated airspeed at top of the green.

"Aztec you're supposed to be descending!"
"Boston you vectored me into a developing thunderstorm!"
"Oops, sorry..."
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I recall being told to descend in the Aztec. Went from 500 fpm descent to 2000 fpm climb with throttles at idle and indicated airspeed at top of the green.

"Aztec you're supposed to be descending!"
"Boston you vectored me into a developing thunderstorm!"
"Oops, sorry..."
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Well.... That's silly to allow yourself to be vectored into a thunderstorm.
 
narchee said:
Well.... That's silly to allow yourself to be vectored into a thunderstorm.
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There was no precip yet, so nothing to see on the radar (I had both XM and real radar running). Note I said "developing."
 
Went to close to a thunder storm,once was enough.
 
Saw someone flying under some storms rolling through St. Louis tonight. My first thought was either brave or stupid.
 
Fredbob711 said:
Saw someone flying under some storms rolling through St. Louis tonight. My first thought was either brave or stupid.
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Was it a Caravan around 7:30-ish? If so, I take offense to your comment... I mean, thanks for the admiration! lol ;) We were the first into KSTL after about a 40 minute delay and ground-stop due to the 50kt wind-shear, extreme precip and a tornado alert.

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HighFlyingA380 said:
Was it a Caravan around 7:30-ish? If so, I take offense to your comment... I mean, thanks for the admiration! lol ;) We were the first into KSTL after about a 40 minute delay and ground-stop due to the 50kt wind-shear, extreme precip and a tornado alert.
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Nope, don't think it was you :), I'm to the south of KSTL and the plane I saw was heading north.

Was very surprised to see someone flying underneath the cloud cover with the storms in the area. And if my Southwest flight from Nashville earlier in the day was any indication it would have been bumpy as all heck up there.
 
HighFlyingA380 said:
Was it a Caravan around 7:30-ish? If so, I take offense to your comment... I mean, thanks for the admiration! lol ;) We were the first into KSTL after about a 40 minute delay and ground-stop due to the 50kt wind-shear, extreme precip and a tornado alert.

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OMG, If I looked up and saw that out the window I would soil myself..
 
HighFlyingA380 said:
Naw, it was awesome. It was amazing how clearly you could see it quickly building and "bubbling" outwards only a mile or two away.
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It is awesome to see that. Its creepy too as the little voice is reminding me that airplane eating death is in there.
 
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Ohhh, look at those pretty clouds... NOT.:nono:
Thanks for sharing those spectacular photos! Better you then me. :yes:
 
I have a pretty healthy respect for big storms. Flew through one in southern Afghanistan one time, we're talking big midwest style T-storms that roll off the mountains of Iran through Kandahar during the spring. Was in full afterburner, so a healthy 33k lbs of thrust, completely unable to maintain level flight.....lost 3k feet almost instantly, and then rapidly gained about the same. First time I have ever thought the wings were going to rip off the airplane. Within seconds there was ice all over the canopy, and you couldn't hear much over the sound of hail. I cannot even imagine what that would have done to literally any other type of aircraft.......
 
35 AoA said:
I have a pretty healthy respect for big storms. Flew through one in southern Afghanistan one time, we're talking big midwest style T-storms that roll off the mountains of Iran through Kandahar during the spring. Was in full afterburner, so a healthy 33k lbs of thrust, completely unable to maintain level flight.....lost 3k feet almost instantly, and then rapidly gained about the same. First time I have ever thought the wings were going to rip off the airplane. Within seconds there was ice all over the canopy, and you couldn't hear much over the sound of hail. I cannot even imagine what that would have done to literally any other type of aircraft.......
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NCAR used to fly a 737 through thunderstorms as part of a research program. Dunno if the flight pay was any better than normal...
 
azure said:
When the weather is too bad for VFR, go IFR. When it's too bad for IFR, go VFR. :)
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not a bad approach - I've modified it slightly:

When the weather is too bad for VFR, go IFR. When it's too bad for IFR, stay home and annoy the uptight participants on POA.
 
Matthew said:
This video has been around for a while. I found it again a little while ago, and it's a pretty good story about what can happen if you do get too close to a t-storm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEpKNla63Kw

2007, sucked up to 33,000 feet in a paraglider.
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Back in the late 70s when I lived in Albuquerque and flew hang gliders from Sandia Crest, a guy from SoCal showed up one day. In spite of admonitions not to launch in mid afternoon when the thermals were violent, he flew anyway.

The clouds spit him out near Bernalillo, a wadded up ball of aluminum and dacron.
 
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