9.2 Weather Hazards

 In my opinion, the greatest risk to aviation operations in relation to weather is Thunderstorms. Thunderstorms and the inherent conditions that come along with them can be devastating in flight. Sure, on a clear day in the south you can circumnavigate thunderstorms by a great distance. But, what if you are on an IFR flight plan, in the clouds, flying along with no issues but there is an imbedded thunderstorm ahead? Weather radar is getting more and more reliable, but not all aircraft are equipped with this feature. Flying IMC and running into a thunderstorm can be incredibly frightening. 

I will never forget one time I was about to land in KMEZ, Mena Arkansas, where Barry Seal did his infamous drug smuggling back in the 80's, being really excited about landing there and seeing where the subject of the movie "American Made" happened. At the time, I was a less experienced fixed-wing pilot. The person I was flying with, was very back and forth about whether we should land or not, because he saw what the clouds were doing and it looked to him like it was going to get much worse.  Well, he was the Pilot in Command so he made the call, reluctantly mind you, to skip that stop in KMEZ, pick up our next flight plan home and skip the landing in KMEZ.  I still remember flying out of there, and just watching out the window as it seemed like we almost "surfed" a cloud that eventually built all the way up to about 40k feet.  I watched it build out the window and I couldn't believe how rapidly that happened. I am very grateful for the experience of the other pilot that was flying PIC and grateful that he saw what was about to happen.  Coincidentally we had another plane from my company flying in the area, and they actually had a lightning strike that day that caused them to make an emergency landing. Thank God nobody was hurt. 




For a thunderstorm to form the air must have sufficient water vapor an unstable lapse rate and an initial lifting action to start the storm process (PHAK, 2017). Thunderstorms pack just about every weather hazard known to aviation into one vicious bundle (PHAK, 2017). Due to this, I believe thunderstorms cause the greatest risk to aviation. 

References

Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge Chapter 12 (n.d.)

    https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/media.pdf

Pilot

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