Why are we afraid of the rain?

Jaybird180

Jaybird180

Final Approach
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Jaybird180
Disclaimer: I’ve yet to fly in anything except light drizzle, duration: less than 30 seconds

In my reading of aviation magazines, websites, forums, etc, I see a prevailing attitude regarding weather systems that pilots generally avoid rain of any type. This morning’s article the author described a flight some years ago where he used controller’s advised vectors to get around a ‘small area of rain’ whereas he was going to instead set down and wait it out.

In my reading of the few POHs for the airplanes I’ve been blessed to fly, they echo the sentiment that heavy rain does not affect the flight characteristics of the aircraft.

It seems to me that rain affects pilots more than airplanes (visibility aside).

Why do we have this tendency? Is it based on reason or irrational fear?
 
steingar said:
Gets my airplane dirty.
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Hmmm... Flying through rain cleans my plane nicely.... All bugs are removed and it is natures 'soft' water.. That means NO water spots....:yesnod:

Ps, the prop does not like it too much .:sad:
 
I set personal minimums for visability. If i can see the horizon through the rain I will fly through it. Heavy rain is tough on props and leading edges of the wings so I slow down to protect the equipment, other than that it is a good way to wash the plane.
 
Geico266 said:
I set personal minimums for visability. If i can see the horizon through the rain I will fly through it. Heavy rain is tough on props and leading edges of the wings so I slow down to protect the equipment, other than that it is a good way to wash the plane.
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Can you provide supplemental information for my comprehension?
 
A lot of these airplanes leak, unless you know your airplane you could get wet in the cockpit!

The other reason would be prop damage. It erodes the leading edge of the prop quite a bit.

Unless you are talking about the rain associated with convection, that would be a different answer.
 
The problem with heavy rain is it usually comes with turbulence and strong downdrafts. The light rain in a stable atmosphere is good sign sometimes (depending on ceilings though if you are VFR only)

<---<^>--->
 
If you're flying IMC with passengers it's best practice to avoid steep gradients in radar returns or heavy rain as these areas often contain significant turbulence.

Heay rain can also be tough to see through for non-IR pilots. Not seeing = trouble unless your proficient on the gauges.
 
I flew through some (light) rain during my second solo cross country as a student. What my instructor told me was that any small area of rain that you can see through (thunderstorms excluded) is generally fine to fly through. I continue to use that guideline.

As a potential future airplane owner I am interested in more details about claims that rain damages props or leading edges. Does this apply only to certain constructions like composites or wood props or is it a general concern?
 
spinfire said:
I flew through some (light) rain during my second solo cross country as a student. What my instructor told me was that any small area of rain that you can see through (thunderstorms excluded) is generally fine to fly through. I continue to use that guideline.

As a potential future airplane owner I am interested in more details about claims that rain damages props or leading edges. Does this apply only to certain constructions like composites or wood props or is it a general concern?
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A metal prop will lose paint and a very very slight amount of erosion to the aluminum itself.

A wood prop will have th varnish eaten off the leading edge pretty quickly and expose the wood to moisture.

My Carbor Fiber composite prop shows no sign of any etching in the leading edge... My Ivo prop does have a stainless Steel foil tape on the outboard leading edge and that really takes a dive in rain... Cheap enough though to replace at 3 bucks a piece. On my video I have a pretty poor picture of the damage,,,, I explain the dents in the foil as caused by rocks, whick some are but the vast majority is rain damage.... Just fast forward through the video to about 7.40 minutes in to see that part.. Viewing the rest of the video will just confirm how crazy I really am.:goofy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7272451917550730841&hl=en#


Ben.
 
Time to whip out an old gem from my first CFI. (Before anyone analyzes it to death, he always said it with a smirk.)

"The airplane doesn't know it's raining."
 
denverpilot said:
Time to whip out an old gem from my first CFI. (Before anyone analyzes it to death, he always said it with a smirk.)

"The airplane doesn't know it's raining."
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But you sure will when a stream of water starts shooting from the gap in the windscreen and through the air cans in the wing roots.

;)
 
i avoid rain in the glider because the L/D goes from bad to worse
 
N801BH said:
Hmmm... Flying through rain cleans my plane nicely.... All bugs are removed and it is natures 'soft' water.. That means NO water spots....:yesnod:
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That's what I was thinking...
 
Rain is no too bad except when hail comes along. It can ding severely the wings leading edge costing you a lot of money

Jose
 
wrt flying the rain, I say: Do you know what'll happen if we fly in the rain?














The airplane gets wet.

iow rain by itself isn't a problem. Thunderstorms, on the other hand, and icing are to be avoided in the kind of airplane I fly.
 
As long as you aren't flying one of these:

1586023.jpg
 
Posted this 100 times before, but leaking windshields in Cherokees that I rent make radios and transponder to short and die. Surprisingly they work again when removed and dried out.
 
Jaybird180 said:
It seems to me that rain affects pilots more than airplanes (visibility aside).

Why do we have this tendency? Is it based on reason or irrational fear?
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When you become an airplane owner, come back and tell us how you feel....
 
dmccormack said:
...Heay rain can also be tough to see through for non-IR pilots. Not seeing = trouble unless your proficient on the gauges.
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If you're happily flying VFR under the overcast in the air that's saturated right at the dew point, start a light drizzle and you're suddenly in cloud/fog that reaches right down to shoelace height.

= lotsa trouble unless you're proficient on the gauges.
 
N801BH said:
Hmmm... Flying through rain cleans my plane nicely.... All bugs are removed and it is natures 'soft' water.. That means NO water spots....:yesnod:

Ps, the prop does not like it too much .:sad:
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That only works if you have a slow plane. Real planes the rain will strip the paint off your leading edges and nose eventually.:D
 
I avoid rain because you never know how bad its going to get. It could be a small rainstorm, or part of a larger cell with TS or hail. Light rain and snow......sure, but its not intentional.....more like "ooo, its raining". Then its onto the radios to check visibilities along the route, contact ATC for flight following or 122.0 for flight advisories. And if its cold enough, check the leading edges for ice.
 
Rain often means poor visibility and other less than desirable weather issues. It could be an indicator of weather you do not want to fly through.
 
TripleZ said:
I avoid rain because you never know how bad its going to get. It could be a small rainstorm, or part of a larger cell with TS or hail. Light rain and snow......sure, but its not intentional.....more like "ooo, its raining". Then its onto the radios to check visibilities along the route, contact ATC for flight following or 122.0 for flight advisories. And if its cold enough, check the leading edges for ice.
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I was waiting for someone to mention ice.

Collecting it from flying through cloud is different than, say, freezing rain, which will really ruin your day.
 
BTW, 3M makes a clear film for protecting radomes. If you aren't deiced, it can also be used on leading edges.
 
OP's signature says Mooney Wannabe. That, sir, is a commendable desire. So I'll answer from a Mooney perspective.

I have flown mine numerous times in various levels of precip, including very heavy. Heavy rain does not necessarily mean turbulence, but it can. My 1984 M20J model does not leak at all, so for me that is not a concern. (I have flown 172's in the rain and have gotten pretty wet.) Flying in rain does rough up the leading edge of the prop. A little rub of Scotchbrite takes care of that easily. I have lost a little wing leading edge paint too, but not much.

The Mooney wing is more laminar than C, P & B wings. In rain this is a negative because like a glider it loses some efficiency with water droplets on it. I figure about -5kts in the rain.

I watch the OAT carefully in the rain and always use pitot heat.

So other than ice potential and convective storms, rain isn't a biggie. Get your IFR, get your Mooney and go somewhere.
 
Lol some of you guys are funny.

If you won't fly in the rain you would almost never fly in SE Alaska.

We have light rain so often it's our "normal" flying weather.

It does keep your paint clean.

Mostly Cessna 150/172/182/206/7 's and cherokee 6's in our area.

They are all CLEAN AS A WHISTLE.

Whenever your plane is dirty someone will tell you to go fly next time it rains.

I'm ok with it.

PS I wouldn't fly thru a thunderstorm, duh.
 
I have a leak that I have been unable to find.:sad: The water drips from the trim control onto the instrument panel. I was too lazy to find it so I moved from Western Washington to Arizona.

Now it's rain--what rain:rofl:

Paul
N1431A
2AZ1
 
I'd check the operating manual for the airplane too. The 172 M has specific instructions on using carb heat in the rain. You don't want your carb to ice up from all the moisture.
 
I have a kitfox type and I've been told they leak so bad you have stall it to get the water out, I' got a mate who pushes things with the weather so much I wonder if I go to his funeral at some time. I don't mind a bit of wind but really crappy wx is just not fun,
 
Okay, I know his might be getting old, but, rain is no big deal in an RV at 200 MPH. We fly around or over weather. :rolleyes:

Okay, even that may be over the top for me. ;)

:rofl:

Seriously, don't push weather. It will kill you.
 
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Lance F said:
So other than ice potential and convective storms, rain isn't a biggie. Get your IFR, get your Mooney and go somewhere.
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Right there you explained why I don't go IFR on the East Coast. It's not worth the risk. I'll run 500' off the beach at 25' off the deck all the way to North Carolina. Actually, I went over the whole Orlando / Space coast over 11,000, then was driven down to the deck all the way from Savanah to North of Charleston where I had gotten behind it and could climb out VFR direct into the clear to Greenville<?>NC on the way to OSH. I feel much safer underneath it where I can keep my eye on it. I'm a seaman by trade, I'm very used to driving through weather from underneath. I know what to expect from what and I am well equipped and lightly loaded in a High Performance twin. 3 miles a minute on the deck is a nice speed, I've got a lot of spare energy and I can maintain and/or climb out on one. I did skim over a golf course that protruded well out on a finger island. There were guys playing even. That's determined golfers. Probably a resort deal. Yeah, I feel better underneath it than in it. I saw what happened to a NOAA T-28 that flew into it (on purpose:eek:) pummeled top and bottom. Landed and left on a salvage truck.
 
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rbhankins001 said:
Lol some of you guys are funny.

If you won't fly in the rain you would almost never fly in SE Alaska.

We have light rain so often it's our "normal" flying weather.

It does keep your paint clean.

Mostly Cessna 150/172/182/206/7 's and cherokee 6's in our area.

They are all CLEAN AS A WHISTLE.

Whenever your plane is dirty someone will tell you to go fly next time it rains.

I'm ok with it.

PS I wouldn't fly thru a thunderstorm, duh.
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IIRC it was something like 145kts that salt water spray will strip Awlgrip because that's how they figured the max strength of the worst that hit us. That boat was blasted clean lol, and I was driving around in it...:lol::goofy::rofl:
 
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