New 'phone had me going through way too many pics. From a few years ago, rough as a cob afternoon but I remember my friend and I both instinctively snugging our belts a bit more before entering this one...
One Ugly Cloud
- Thread starter wings&wheels
- Start date
Owen Lucas
$100 Site Donor 2023
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2021
- Messages
- 2,555
How did it go? Was there hail?
You can deviate.
I flew through a young cumulus stage cloud one time that looked similar to that in a Turbo Arrow. No rain, but the turbulence was so bad that full control deflection wasn't keeping us straight and level. There was a DC-10 near us on the frequency, he had enough of the turbulence and diverted to Detroit, which didn't have any thunderstorms. When we were in the updraft, we were going up at about 1,500' minute with no power and pitch down about 5 degrees and we started picking up ice, quickly. I let ATC know we were deviating from our assigned altitude and I will never forget what he said, "You are the only aircraft out there, so you can do whatever you want." Talk about a lonely feeling. We were out of it about five minutes later. You only need to experience a thunderstorm once and you will always remember that you never want to do it again, I did not make that mistake twice.
I would’ve gone around that one…
...and you're not driving a piston single.
We probably should have, but it had limited vertical development, no hail. It wasn't anywhere near threatening yet. There was a fair amount of traffic around us, we were coming back from the Vineyard on an August afternoon. It wasn't that bad, 2-3 good thumps, but the whole trip was bumpy. Also, the friend I was with is a corporate pilot who does a lot of shuttling between the islands...he didn't seem too alarmed
.
Last edited:
Similar threads
