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If I had to pick between flying in a snow storm and shooting an approach to minimums in icing conditions or flying around thunderstorms, I would most the time pick flying in a snow storm.

The reason is because snow storms, for the most part, are predictable. If you fly into a snow storm in the CRJ200 or CRJ700, unless the visibility is zero or you are experiencing severe icing, you are most likely going to make it in. If you don’t, then you go to your alternate.

Thunderstorms though are a completely different monster. Flying into a thunderstorm can make you and your passengers miserable. It can also damage the airplane. Not something you want to have to explain to the chief pilot.

The 2005 Nall Report, within the pilot-related accidents for the category of general aviation, accidents, “Nearly 25 percent of fatal weather-related accidents were due to encounters with thunderstorms. All involved pilots were in contact with ATC, but still flew into severe conditions.”

I think that is too many. Don’t you?

It is easy in hindsight to judge those pilot‘s decision-making, but then again, we weren’t there so we shouldn’t be too hasty to judge. But one thing I do know…if maybe those pilots had just a little more training, maybe they would still be alive today.

OK, so here is my big tip for pilots flying around near thunderstorms, “Don’t fly into a thunderstorm!” Easy enough, right? Well, maybe not that easy.

“We had always worried about being near thunderstorms in this airplane. We had worried about being in the dark in this airplane. And we worried most about being in a thunderstorm at night in this airplane.” —Dick Rutan, Voyager, 1987

Let’s back up. First of all, why don’t we want to fly into thunderstorms?

Personally, I can think of four really good reasons and I hope that after you read them, you too will be more diligent and respectful of thunderstorms:

1. Radio Communications

Once you enter the area of a thunderstorm, the air is usually electrically charged and this distorts radio communications. This is called “precipitation static.” During this “blackout,” air traffic control (ATC) may be trying to help you by telling you about cell intensity warnings and by giving you radar vectors, but since you are in the throes of a thunderstorm, your radios are temporarily useless. The good news is that it will go away once you leave the thunderstorms and the associated clouds. Hopefully though you won’t be flying into the thunderstorm. My suggestion, ask ATC for vectors early and be willing to accept major deviations to clear the storm. I would worry less about fuel and time at this point and worry more about the storm. There are hundreds of airports you should be able to land at if you need fuel or you need to wait out a storm.

2.  Flying Into Microburst

During my last proficiency check (PC), we were presented with windshear close to the ground during a takeoff due to thunderstorms in the area that had created a microburst. We were set up to fail in this scenario even though we took all the proper precautions. The intent was to show what happens when you experience a microburst.

Now a microburst doesn’t last very long, maybe 5 minutes to 30 minutes. The problems is that the shaft of air that descends out of the thunderstorm, the downdrafts, can spread horizontally across the ground and create low-level windshears (LLWS). On one side of the microburst you can experience an increase in performance (lift) but on the other side you would experience a decrease in performance (uncontrollable descent) which results in impact with the ground.

Case Study: On a July afternoon in 1982, a Boeing 727 departed New Orleans, Lousiana, into a heavy rain shower near the end of the runway. The aircraft soon began sinking despite all the best efforts of the pilots to maintain takeoff climb. Less than 20 seconds after leaving the runway, the aircraft crashed, killing 152 people. An analysis of the flight data recorder and weather data showed that the airplane had flown into a strong precipitation induced-downdraft. During the penetration, a 14-knot headwind at liftoff became a 27-knot tailwind just prior to the crash.

My take on it is if there is a thunderstorm in the area, wait awhile, then take off.

3. Landing with Thunderstorms Near the Airport

In a perfect world you wouldn’t even fly near a thunderstorm, especially when you are arriving at an airport, but it happens. There may be extenuating circumstances that force you to shoot an approach even though you know there are thunderstorms in the area. You could be low on fuel or you have some other emergency that won’t allow you to divert. So, you have to shoot the approach.

When this happens there are a few things you should watch for and execute a missed approach or go-around when there are deviations from the normal configuration:

During a Takeoff/Approach

• ± 15 knots indicated airspeed
• ± 500 f.p.m. vertical speed
• ± 5 degree pitch attitude

Approach

• ± 1 dot glideslope displacement
• Unusual throttle or thrust lever position for a significant period of time

If you experience any of these, access the situation and consider going around.

Remember, there is no shame in shooting a missed approach or executing a go-around. It is better to be safe than to push a bad situation. Yeah, ATC may get a little peeved about you going missed but when it comes down to it, you are the pilot-in-command and you have to do what is right for you and your passengers.

4. Deviations Around Thunderstorms

I’ve found that planning is the best option. The CRJ200 can not climb as high as the CRJ700, so when I am flying the CRJ200, I have to be especially aware of thunderstorms. I have found that during “thunderstorm season,” ATC is mostly accommodating when I request deviations for “weather.”

On the CRJ, we have a fairly primitive radar. It is funny that many general aviation and corporate jets have better weather avoidance radar, like the Garmin GPS 696, than we do. On ours we just look for echos and rely on ATC vectors to get around storms. If I see something “painting” red (i.e., sever thunderstorm), I request vectors upwind of the thunderstorm to avoid turbulence and/or hail. When I do this, I have to be sure that I’m actually not putting myself into a worse situation. If I cannot go upwind of the storm and if I have to go to the downwind side of the storm then I will. I don’t want to position the airplane into a worse situation just because I want to fly on the upwind side.

But, you need to plan early. Don’t just sit back and hope it works out. During one particularly bad storm, we had to deviate considerably to avoid the storms, adding hundreds of miles to our trip, but because we identified the situation early, deviated quickly, and conserved our fuel, when everyone else was deviating to alternate airports, we were able to get to our destination.

So keep these four tips in you mind. Thunderstorms are not fun but as a pilot but they are a way of life, and as pilot-in-command, it is your responsibility to take action to ensure the success the flight and to keep your passengers and the airplane safe. Take action early and with authority.

To Your Flying Success,

Jeffrey

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