Flying through storms

[PHF2ATL]

Have any of you guys flown through any strong t-storms? I remember in '97 I was flying NAS-CLT-RIC on US and on the CLT-RIC(B737-300) segement, we encountered a huge storm. The pilot told us to look out of the left side of the plane and there was nothing but dark clouds and lightning (it was about 7pm) The captain said we would divert to RDU and wait until the storm passed. Well we still were at cruising altitude about 15 minutes later and he said he was going to fly in behind the storm. Well we went north of RIC and then made a 180 degree turn into the backside of the storm. We started bouncing up and down and left and right through thunder and lightning, pretty scary. Us passengers had no clue where we were and all of a sudden we saw a few lights and we were on the ground and everyone started to clap. We were the last flight in that night, about 1 hour behind schedule. Another time was when I was little on a NW DC-10(DTW-MSP) and my mom said it was the worst storm she'd ever been in, but I slept through the whole thing :lol: . Share some of your storm stories!

[LRJet Guy]

I flew through a little buildup near CMH one night that was so rough inside that we knocked a tach cable loose.

Another time going through a cold front, I got knocked around hard enough to get a bruise from the shoulder harness.

The coolest one was flying over the top of some Tstorms near LAS at night. We had about 2000 ft between us and the tops (FL410). Lots of lightning in the storms, and we had the best seat in the house to watch it.

Flying into YIP one night, they took us over the top of DTW during the evening push. There were thunderstorms on one side of the airport, and a ton of arrivals on the other. The controller told us (Willow Run 12 o'clock, 10 miles, Metro 12 o'clock 5 miles, lightshow on the right, airshow on the left".

[srbmod]

I remember taking a flight out of IAD about five years ago and we took off and had to fly through a t-storm, nothing we could do about it. Probably two minutes after takeoff, we went through a rough patch of turbulence. It was lightning all around us until we hit about maybe 20,000 feet, and we were above the storm, quite a lightshow from above for most of the flight to ATL.

[Fly_Southwest]

PHX-MDW, we flew over T-Storms. Really cool. It was a night flight, scheduled to land at MDW at 12:35am. Our pilot came on and said "Folks, I have good and bad news. The good news is that we have storms under us, and will be getting a cool light show. The bad news is we have to start our desecnt into Chicago, so it will be pretty bumpy. "

We were really thrown around. Plus with the delay, we got in at 4:45am...4 hours late... :roll:

[FlyCharlestonSC]

My brother was flying ORD-PIT-BWI today.
The plane was struck by lightning and could not continue on to BWI. He was delayed.
Personally, I hate flying through storms! :wink:

[pilotgolfer]

we were flying to HOU and there were pretty big storms over the area. we circled for a little bit in the pattern, and while we were descending into the clouds, lightning hit our plane. i happened to look to the right just as it hit. all i saw was a big white flash.

[Gulfstream1291]

I was flying on American Airlines ORD-LAX routing, when we flew through a T-storm. Strange because all that bouncing was kind of comforting. :uhoh:

[G-TDTW]

I remember we were flying SFB-YQX-LGW with ATA on an L1011, and around an hour befor gander a T. Storm brewed up and lightning struck the plane, Dislodging the rear engine output and making the plane yaw. Scary Moment, and a 40 min stop over in gander was 6 hours as they repaired the aircraft

[Cubana]

AeroPerú MEX-PTY-LIM B727-200 back in 1997.

We left MEX in a very sunny day, but when flying over Honduras the worst thunderstorm you can imagine started. The 727 started "dansing" like never before. It was the very only time in my life I almost use the airsicknessbag. Indeed very horrible!

[FlyCharlestonSC]

My worst was LGA-CHS on US Airways Express in the middle of a snowstorm, not a T storm, though. :wink:

[herpa2003]

A few years ago I was on a BA 767-300 from LHR-FRA at night. On approach to FRA we flew through a T-storm, encountering moderate turbulence, with an occasional heavy bunp. The lightning outside the aircraft was incredible. On the ground you usually see only a few flashes a minute, but in the air, it was flash after flash after flash.

Also, I flew on a US Airways Express Dash 8 through a snow and ice storm from SYR-LGA. The forecast was for rain, then freezing rain, then snow. The rain was really coming down before our flight. It soon turned to solid sleet, and then heavy mix of sleet and snow. Cloud cover was a 300ft, so it was a pretty bumpy ride, even all the way into LGA.

[matt1168]

One of my worst flights ever.

It was a Midway flight about 4-5 years ago, FLL-RDU-EWR. The FLL-RDU leg was perfect, but once we took off again for EWR, we flew head-on into a huge thunder storm system, which threw the F100 around so much that I was afraid I'd get ripped out of my seat or the ceiling would get left 1000 feet above us. Luckily, even though we had one of the roughest landings I'd ever encountered at EWR, we were the 3rd to last plane to land that night. After that EWR was closed for a couple of hours to all traffic!!

[DAL767-400ER]

Back in 1998, I was aboard a DL 763ER on the way from ATL to BRU. Somewhere around Philly the plane encountered severe turbulence. The plane was shaking like crazy, especially the wings were going up and down, plus lightning every other second. Weather was severe, but there was no big loss of altitude, only around 1,500 feet throughout the entire ordeal.
And in the summer of 2002, me and my dad were diverted because of severe t-storms at ATL, so our "Soaring Spirit" ws diverted to CLT. And after staying at CLt for at least 3 hours, we left CLT and "passed the t-storm cell on our way to ATL: As dark as imaginable, with the only light coming from all the lightning. Quite an impresssive sight.

-Colin

[drhopkins]

A couple of years ago flying from SAN-MSP-SUX on NW. The leg to Sioux City was on a RJ-85. Once we were in the air, the pilot came on the PA and said that with current conditions, we would be in Sioux City 1/2 hour early. As we approached Sioux City, he then informed us that we would have to circle as a large thundercell had parked itself directly over the airport. We circled and my son and I on the left side of the plane (we were in the last row) had an excellent view of the lightning. There was a lot of cloud to cloud lightning as well as cloud to ground. We circled for about 45 minutes when the pilot said that the cell had moved far enough from the runway for us to go in. That was the bumpiest ride I had ever been on. That plane bounced up and down and shook all the way to the ground. My daughter (who was 4 at the time) slept through the whole thing. We had to wake her up to get off the plane!

[Fua737-800]

I remember a few years ago after spending Christmas in New York City we flew back through the worst storm I have ever seen or been in. The flight started out smoothly. Take off from JFK was excellent, climbed out over long Island and reached cruising above Boston. The captain came on over the PA and talked us through the flight routing, informed us of flight time etc... and told us that there was a little bit of bad weather off northern Canada but that it shouldn't be much to worry about. During dinner things started to get a bit bumpy nothing major. Everyone continued to eat and watch the movie. Then suddenly the plane dropped, everyone’s dinners went all over the plane. We were thrown form side to side up and down. The overhead bins started to open and everyone’s belongings fell out around the cabin. The engines got louder, we were trying to climb back up to our cruising altitude. The cabin crew were all trying to cling on to anything as they tried to secure trolleys and make it to their seats. After about 10 mins and still no sign of getting out of this weather everyone was getting worried. Then another few minutes passed and the suddenly all went came, engines quietened everyone gasped a sigh of relief. Bang!!! The plane dropped so far down this time that people were shouting and screaming. I looked up at the cabin crew to see them holding hands and crying. That got me worried now. You could hear the wind howling outside. After about 20 mins it all stopped. The captain came on and told us that we were put of the worst and that it would continue being a little bit bumpy. Once we landed I had a look around the cabin it was wrecked. Dinners and rubbish all over the cabin. I was never so glad to off airplane in my life.

[Carolina_Sky]

I looked up at the cabin crew to see them holding hands and crying. That got me worried now.
That's a horrific flight.

In February I had a flight that wasn't that bad, but the F/A's did nothing to make the pax feel better. I was on an A319 on NW out of DTW headed home to RDU. I was on the aisle seat on the last row with two effeminate F/A's right behind me. I couldn't help but overhear there shop talk just behind me while we were departing. One had worked with NW for some 6 years, the other 8. About halfway through the flight, which up to that point only had light chop, we started getting into some gen-u-wine turbulence. One of the misstepped and made a Herculean save to keep a woman from getting a drink in her lap. The F/A's strapped into the jumpseats and fussed about the not getting any heads-up from the cockpit. Things started to get relatively rough, at the worst it got up to "moderate turbulence." From the back of the plane I could see everyone’s heads rocking and rolling around like a motion simulator set on buck-wild. You'd have your hands in your lap and they would involuntarily fly up. I asked the F/A's how they would rate the turbulence on a scale of 1 to 10. "Ten" they both said simultaneously. Not what I was hoping for. On Descent we were rocking and rolling around and one of the said "Oh Jesus, I hope this guy knows what the @#&$ he is doing."

[mtorello]

It was a couple of years ago, maybe 2000. Flying back from MDZ to AEP on AR MD88. After takeoff ata night (after 9:00) the captain announced that we were going to change our route, flying over the south of Cordoba (close to the limit ot La Pampa), because of a thunderstorm over Cordoba. As captain said, the lighting was about 300 km away from us, but they even seems to be very close!!! It was an amazing extra show !!!
Affortunately, just was lighting and it didn't disturb the flight, which arrived just 10 minutes later because of the change of route.

[USAir B737]

Not some bad storms, but some bad turbulence and FA stories


On way home from Piedmont Triad- KPIT on an ERJ-145, PA from the flight deck said the weather didnt look good and it may be bumpy....so we begin descending into PIT, and sure enough it got bumpy...i dunno if anyone else has noticed the people that go "ohhh" really loud, like a miniture scream....well yeah, we had that....after it was done, the FA came to the back and said "whew!, glad we lived through that one!", which didnt help because the woman sitting next to me was upset...

[FlyingPhotog]

Another turbulence story...

I was flying from MIA on a PanAm 747, my first trip overseas in March 1985 (i think). I was about 8 years old. Our destination was London so we were flying the "Great Circle Route" The flight was sort of bumpy most of the way because we happened to be up in the Jet Stream. In the middle of the night we hit a big "air pocket" that caused a tremendous jolt to the plane! Several overhead bins popped open. And because many people we sleeping it really freaked them into a panic. All was okay after a few minutes and some calm words from the pilot. The bonus was that we landed about 3 hours early because we were pushed west to east by the Jet Stream.

[cal99]

I remember about two years ago, flying from IAH-SAV the plane was struck by lightning, but I didnt even know about it untill the next day when I talked to the pilots.

[DeltaRules]

Yeah, I've done that once...

Flew ATL-CMH on a 757 at night in 1998 I think. Before we pushed back, the captain told us that we'd be delayed because of some "rain" in the area. When we finally taxied, I remember several instances where we'd stop on the taxiway for traffic, etc. & they'd shut the lights & electronics in the cabin off (I was listening to the music IFE while taxiing & it cut out on me). I knew something wasn't right at this point.

We then took off & no more than 3-4 minutes into the flight, lightning could be seen out the windows in the distance. The farther north we went, though, the closer we got & about 20 minutes in, we were getting rocked. The F/As were told to sit down & strap in & we were in for another 45 minutes of hell. I looked out the window & saw constant flashing (although now that I think about it, it was probably the strobe lights on the wings flashing) As I think back, I'm glad it was a 757...I was nervous on that- I'd have been really nervous on anything smaller. Some disgusting irony...as a couple of kids were blowing chunks in front of us, they were showing a cooking segment on "Delta Horizons" (or whatever it was called in 1998), which I actually chuckled at.

We then got close to CMH & basically had to make a nose-dive through the storms to get down. We finally popped out of the clouds close to the end of the runway. When we landed & cleared the runway, there was still a ton of cloud to ground lightning flashing in the area. We left the airport on our way home & got buzzed by another 757 landing on 28L & thought that they had just experienced what I had gone through...not a fun experience.

DeltaRules

[NOTAR520AC]

...I asked the F/A's how they would rate the turbulence on a scale of 1 to 10. "Ten" they both said simultaneously. Not what I was hoping for. On Descent we were rocking and rolling around and one of the said "Oh Jesus, I hope this guy knows what the @#&$ he is doing."

:lol:

[COOlcc88]

Happened to me on a late night flight from PHX-DEN on an America West 737. We landed in PHX (from LAS)and the short ride was smooth as heck. Changed planes and were off again to DEN. The whole flight went perfect until we were on final. I remember it was a fairly clear night i could see Downtown Denver and all the sights, but for some reason when we got closer to DEN we got into some rough stuff. Suddenly the plane dropped drastically!

(now that i think about it, it felt like the Tower of Doom at 6 flags :lol: )

but this for some reason was much scarier! I could hear the engines roar up and then it did it again! I looked out the window and saw what looked like runway lights as we were in a very sharp turn. (I think i might have yelled something like Holy Crap! during this whole mess.)lol. I even said a prayer or two. We had a rough touchdown in DEN, im not even sure what runway we landed on it was so crazy.
The flight attendent said in a very disturbed and somewhat scared manner, that he "Managed to get it down safely atleast". It was Definatley my scariest moment on an airplane.

I have another late night flight coming up so im a little freaked :uhoh:

[NOTAR520AC]

I haven't been in "real heavy" turbulence- only moderate stuff. Worst was probably on the 772 & 744 while in the unstable areas of the jetstream, but their wings flex and absorb it so much it wasn't that bad.

The closest I've come to crashing, however, was on a Delta 752 JFK_PHX landing in pitch dark @ 1am. We hit wake turbulence right over the runway threshold from a departing Northwest 757. We were entering ground effect, and the wake turbulence threw our right wing up in the air so much I could see the runway lines outside the left side from my aisle seat. Then our left wing flipped up and vise versa. I was seriously thinking we might have a wing strike. After the second massive and abrupt rock, the third was expedited as the pilot corrected hard and applied go-around power. The engines roared and we slowly climbed out and had to come around and try again. Everyone was worridly talking to each other and looking around nervously. The captain came on and explained what had just happened, which calmed everything down. Was suprised though- no screams or anything when we first hit it.

Second time was perfect- everyone clapped when the wheels touched down. Was about 20min late. That was my first wake-turb and go-around experience. I can imagine it doesn't happen that often since the controllers are usually flawless about spacing aircraft, and it's so expensive for the airlines to perform a go around (fuel), etc...

Bet the pilots were a little shaky the rest of the night. :smilewin:

[Tillerman]

While working on the ramp one of my duties was aircraft cleaning. I've seen my part of what a mess people can create -intentionally as wel as unintentionally- during flight, but one evening was a memorable occasion.

That late autumn evening I had the pleasure of having to clean a Fokker 50 from Maersk Air that had flown through VERY hefty turbulence. The passengers came off very shaken :smilewin: , with looks of utter disbelief on their faces. One of them was separately taken away by an airport authority vehicle because a fellow passenger had vomited so fiercely and so much on his suit that he had to undress in the lavatory and left the plane only with some blankets to cover himself. We delivered his suit in a plastic bag afterwards.
When my team entered the plane to clean it, we couldn't believe our eyes. The flightdeck crew were all nervous and frantically thumbing through the manuals to find out which parts of the airplane had to be checked for structural damage. The cabin attendants were sitting in the rear and one of them was crying, the other one covering his eyes with his hands and shaking his head.
The interior looked as if the a/c had flown upside down. All barf bags were used to the limit and we found them everywhere (full, that is), but there were obviously not enough of them; vomit was everywhere, dripping (yes, dripping) even from the ceiling, the walls, and the windows. All books and leaflets were strewn over the floor and chairs. All chairs were covered with the remains of the meal that had just been served and partially consumed, as was the floor. And the smell.... unbelievable. We had these little spray cans with "nice artificial pinewood smells" and we sprayed three of them completely empty, but it didn't help that much.
So, we started to clean the mess. Cleaning in this case meant that we threw everything that wasn't bolted to the airframe in garbage bags, as it was drenched in goo.
Meanwhile, the cockpit crew had contacted their company by telephone for advice. When they returned we were told to stop cleaning. They would ferry the a/c to homebase, it would go straight into maintenance to undergo a check and receive a completely new interior...... So we provided the crew with plenty of spray cans for their 2 hour flight home and off they went, still very nervous. I understood one of the cabin attendants resigned the same evening she returned back home, and never flew again.
Ahh, the marvels of working in the aviation industry...

Tillerman.

[ErwinS]

I have flown with an Royal Netherlands AF Fokker 60 to Bergen/Norway. After entering Norwegian airspace we came across a large snow storm. The airfield was closed down so we had to circle above this storm untill we could land.
About an hour later the airfield reopened and that was just in time because we where just preparing to divert to Oslo :)
What followed was a very bumpy ride down and a nice landing in a snowy wonder land :wink:

Rgds, ErwinS
http://www.jetphotos.net/user-uploads/ews3.jpg

[Chasen_KSFO]

Once I was flying a UA722 (back in the good old days :) ) from DEN-MSP in '98. Leaving DEN there was a huge storm and we had to stay seated until about 30 minutes after takeoff when we were clear of the storm cells. I thought it was tight, but many passangers were concerend about the lightning and Funnel cloud(which was even) tighter. I loved it

[G-VEIL]

Have any of you guys flown through any strong t-storms?

I recently flew with Cebu Pacific in Philippines from Manila to Tacloban on one of their 23 year old DC9s. Its only a 45 minute flight, but on approach to Tacloban, what I can only describe as a very nasty thunderstorm, the plane went violently up, down, left, right, and as a seasoned traveller, I was seriously worried. After about 10 mins of severe turbulence, the right decision was made to get the hell out of there and divert to Cebu. Tacloban and Leyte were cut off for 2 days...no air traffic, no sea links. On arrival at Cebu, out of about 80 pax, 30 had been sick, and I'm sure a few had cacked themselves judging by the stench - I have never been so glad to get off an aeroplane. And to think we had the choice of staying on the plane and returning to Manila or getting off there and then :lol:

[jabba1]

A coupla years back I was flying from Toledo to Atlanta Hartsfield on a Delta-Canadair regional. We flew right into a thunderstorm complete with lightning and even funnel clouds touching down near the airport. The little plane was shaking violently back and forth, everyone was near panic when suddenly it happened. The plane just dropped, scared the crap outta everybody, the flight attendants- everybody! The captain came on and told us that they had the plane under control and that we shouldn't worry, he'd been in lots of situations like that before and the turbulence was normal for the type of weather we were in. He also said we could expect one more severe jolt- he was right!! A moment later the plane jolted violently, shaking several of the overhead compartments open. Panic stricken passengers were screaming, then the captain came back on and said that was the last of the big jolts. Turned out he was right, the rest of the flight was only mildly bumpy, all the way down to a smooth touchdown. The passenges were still quite shook up, but most stopped to shake the captain's hand on the way out for doing such a fine job of bringing the plane through that rough weather.

[rinoltz]

In the summer of 1993 I was flying on a KC-135R from Mildenhall to Malmstrom AFB. About half way over the pond we flew through a storm. I was sleeping on the jump seats with the crewchief bunk above me. The turbulance woke me up and as I opened my eyes I saw the bunk above me suddenly get real close. My first and only experience with momentary weightlessness. Freaky.

[ATLcenter]

July 2, 2004:

On SQ 429, while landing in Singapore. Damn, there was rain falling like hell. The plane shook around a good bit, and there was lightning everywhere. furthermore, it was a night landing. I couldn't even see the wings except when lightning lit the sky! It was pretty scary. I don't think I've ever seen people really take heed to the seatbelt sign before that!