Your thunderstorm stories

cargo_guy · Post by **cargo_guy** » Mon May 16, 2005 7:26 am

Spring is here and summer is fast approaching... On that note I'd like to hear your best and worst thunderstorm stories.

Do share...

Cargo_guy

Tango01 · Post by **Tango01** » Mon May 16, 2005 8:02 am

And this one time at band camp I saw a thunderstorm and I ran back inside and then I shoved a flute up my nose.

gelbisch · Post by **gelbisch** » Mon May 16, 2005 9:30 am

Here's a tip... when you blunder your way into a cell, don't brief your pax on 126.7... especially when a bunch of your buddies are in the area listening.

wha happen · Post by **wha happen** » Mon May 16, 2005 9:59 am

when FSS tells you VFR not recommended due to CB's, listen to them. OR at least be smart enough to take the plates with you

shankdown · Post by **shankdown** » Mon May 16, 2005 10:26 am

I always thought it to be funny when FSS says "VFR not recommended due to CB's". I'd rather be VFR when there are thunderstorms so I can stay low and maneuver around them visually. The aircraft I've always flown have never had radar, so if I was IMC with embedded thunderstorms, I was worse off than if I was VFR. So, they should say to some, "IFR not recommended due to CB's... VFR is, however." Just the way I like it, though.

Shankdown

KAG · Post by **KAG** » Mon May 16, 2005 10:34 am

Thats actually a really good point, stay under em and avoid the shafts of heavy rain.

Got stuck in a front of a fast moving cold front, and not allowed to deviate due to an AC that declared an emergency due to turbulance. We had to request a block 1500' thick because we could not maintain alt within 1000' due to turbulance, and we got hit by lightning. It was a pretty nerve bending experience.

Cheers.

PS, where ya at shank? we need to go out for a beer.

Panama Jack · Post by **Panama Jack** » Mon May 16, 2005 11:51 am

There I was at 22,000 feet. It had been a long day of flying-- already having logged some 10 hours of flight time, and an IFR diversion due to my destination having been socked in by the typical early morning fog. It had been an unusually difficult and nasty day flying back to the home base-- a 5.5 hour flight if everything worked well, but already there had been some challenging decisions regarding deviation routes that took me well off my flight planned route and the choice of setting it down at another airport en-route, in another country, and having to take the delay of what already was an extremely exhausting and long day. Unfortunately, there was not unlimited lateral diversion opportunities, as the Istmus of Central America is thin and the ocean large. My diversions took me from my routing over the Caribbean over to the Pacific Coast. I guess you could call this a "trans-continental deviation for thunderstorm avoidance."

Finally I decided to make a tech stop at an airport some 200 nm short of my destination, but fortunately (at least) in my country of destination. The turn around was fast and efficient-- well, relatively. Customs and Immigration formalities completed, Flight Plan filed, and aircraft refueled I took off.

The ITCZ lays over this terrain during this time of the year, and in the moist tropical air, the thunderstorms tops reached high into the Tropopause. More lateral diversions. Radar was painting red monsters all around. Then into IMC. Classic case of embedded thunderstorms. It is now some 16 hours since I last crawled out of bed. I was weaving around red echos, in IMC when all of a sudden-- ZIP! The radar CRT fried out. I was looking at a black screen. Gulp!

So I take the heading that seemed right when I last had a picture. I don't know what is up ahead-- still 100 nm out from destination, no viable airports nearby, no ATC radar contact . . . thunderstorms behind-- turning back equally dumb as continuing forward. Enjoyed various intensities of turbulence and the airplane got a very good washing. Heard my boss on the radio in another airplane and told him what my situation was. Remember him saying "there must be an easier way to make a living." I remember thinking, "this sucks."

Then all of a sudden I broke into clear air. The rest of the flight I was able to maintain visual separation of the CB's. Landed. Went home. Went to sleep.

A few weeks later a mechanic is doing an inspection on the aircraft and notices that the skin under the wing, where the connection is, is flanged outwards. Upon inspection, he finds that the wing bolts are only on finger tight. When the aircraft had been refurbished 200 hours previously, the wings were not torqued when attached to the fuselage, and created somewhat of a flapping effect (hence the skin damage).

It was an eye opener for all, and after that the company hired a Quality Insurance Inspector for their maintenance base.