Rough Air

RyanB

RyanB

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Ryan
I went flying on Wednesday into what I thought would be a nice afternoon to putz around. The winds aloft were 10-15kts and generally all out of the north up to 9,000ft or so. The turbulence imagery forecasts on Garmin Pilot showed nil all the way into the flight levels and there wasn’t any active AIRMETs either.

Needless to say, the flight was continuous light to moderate chop the whole time at every altitude I was at. So what gives? What causes this unstable, rough air that forecasts don’t seem to indicate?
 
Ryan, I notice it too flying close to the base of the Blue Ridge... maybe mechanical mixing?

Not sure what the temps were, but I think Wednesday was pretty warm (here at least). Maybe convection stirring things up that wasn't forecast? That happens here, too. On a warm day, we get continuous bumps under about 3-4k'... not sure if that ever shows up on the FF turbulence layer.
 
Same thing here in Oklahoma City. Thought it'd be super nice Wednesday afternoon to do a little more test flying the RV9A. 5500' was bouncy all the time I was up.
 
been bumpy as a mofo around here for well over a week. flew today and it was bumpy the whole time, although nothing like last weekend.
 
Flew about 15 nm each way to get cheap gas this afternoon. Would have wanged my head on the roof if I wasn't strapped in. But there was an airmet for low level turbulence. Nice gusty winds, too. Worth it to test out the alternator repairs and get some cheap gas. Which turned out to be not so cheap. Since they raised the price. Oh well. Still got to fly.
 
My first leg yesterday afternoon was Atlanta to Knoxville. It was pretty bumpy.
 
RyanB said:
I went flying on Wednesday into what I thought would be a nice afternoon to putz around. The winds aloft were 10-15kts and generally all out of the north up to 9,000ft or so. The turbulence imagery forecasts on Garmin Pilot showed nil all the way into the flight levels and there wasn’t any active AIRMETs either.

Needless to say, the flight was continuous light to moderate chop the whole time at every altitude I was at. So what gives? What causes this unstable, rough air that forecasts don’t seem to indicate?
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Thermals.
 
Gotta remember forecast conditions are a theory of what might happen. Reports are actual in the moment.

As of last night the TAF forecast winds to be 27kts whereI am. Right now winds are reported at 9kts.
 
No SIGMETS or AIRMETS for turbulence today.

My head rang off the headliner at least twice heading south just east of (and paralleling) the blue ridge. Wasn't a patch of smooth air from 0 - 6000' today.

Edit - Ok so there maaaaay have been an airmet... one was issued as I was sitting on the ramp waiting for release.... but nothing in the FF briefing I got just prior to leaving the house. Shows how fast it can change, I guess.
 
Last edited:
KHEF -> KMTV

ARSNL5 GVE LYH

I left in the morning. This wasn’t issued until later.

and I never made it to my destination. I had electrical system issues and had to go back.

just reread your post. Yes in that area. No not when the sigmet was active.
 
JQF - MTV. it didn't come out until it was too late, but the area was riddled with turb pireps and this sigmet. AFTER the fact doesn't really help much. there actually was a severe turb pirep under the sigmet window, but that was probably from a cezzna driver.

upload_2021-3-7_17-43-2.png
 
scottd said:
It wasn't until about 1530Z when the turbulence PIREPs started to come in quickly
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I provided pireps to two controllers this morning probably around 10 and then 11... not sure if any of those on the map are mine. One on the way to MTV to Roanoke approach and then another with Potomac when I was closer to HEF. Was certainly a bumpy day to fly. Would have been worth it if I was able to fly back through it with a burger in my stomach from Simply Suzanne's.... stupid alternator/voltage regulator/field switch/they-better-figure-it-out-and-fix-it-this-time.....
 
scottd said:
Unfortunately, that's the way they are usually issued. It's rare to see one issued prior to pilots reporting severe turbulence. Turbulence manifests itself on the scale of the size of the airplane and we don't have forecast models that are that high of a resolution. Forecasters look for specific signatures and the wind speeds were not all that impressive along the Blue Ridge Mountains. About 15 to 20 knots. There was a classic lee wave signature in this case. But with rather weak winds, it didn't drive forecasters to show much in the way of widespread turbulence.
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>>> I <<< knew it was gonna be turbulent today and I don't know jack shyte. you'd think the people who are supposed to know would know. my point is, 999 times out of 100 we get turbulence warnings and there's nothing, today we got no early warnings and it was, well, not fun up there.
 
scottd said:
Do tell me more.

Convective turbulence outside of deep, moist convection isn’t part of any official advisory that’s issued.
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all I can say is I, who knows nothing, was right. called it last night and this morning, which makes me more accurate than weather people.
 
scottd said:
Really? Care to share how you “knew” this? What was your criteria? You evidently know more than the professionals, so you must have a flawless system you use. Would like to learn your secrets, but you need to be specific.
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sorry, I charge for my information. don't you charge for yours?
 
Seems like when we have pretty chilly nights and bright sunny days that warm quickly, it gets bumpy due to convection.
 
My kidneys are still hurting after Friday's bump fest. And I had to come back to Tucson right in the middle of the busiest part of their day because I got vectored out complete with 360s for added bonus bump time. I was happy to be on the ground after a not so pretty 23 kt crosswind landing (more of an arrival than a landing)..and then my radios decided to take another vacation.


On another note, I see Eric responding to scottd, I don't see his posts at all other than what was quoted. That's weird.
 
Being beat to death in the airplane just makes the whole flying experience more like driving... in the pothole capital city of Lincoln Nebraska.

I saw a newer Ferrari leaving the airport yesterday, beautiful day, and I thought to myself, that driver was about to need some dental surgery from the potholes and that car's suspension.
 
Timbeck2 said:
My kidneys are still hurting after Friday's bump fest. And I had to come back to Tucson right in the middle of the busiest part of their day because I got vectored out complete with 360s for added bonus bump time. I was happy to be on the ground after a not so pretty 23 kt crosswind landing (more of an arrival than a landing)..and then my radios decided to take another vacation.


On another note, I see Eric responding to scottd, I don't see his posts at all other than what was quoted. That's weird.
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if you're referring to me, he deleted all of his posts.
 
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