What kind of turbulence was this ?

WDD

Final Approach
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Vintage Snazzy (so my adult children say)
Had a 2 hour x country flight today. Pre planning showed a nice 15 kt tail wind.

I kept experiencing pulsing climbs and decents. Plane would bob up 100 feet Count to 4, then down, then up. My ground speed was constantly chaotic. 145 kts - 130. Back to 135. Up to 144. Down to 128.

Winds were 15 knots tail all the way up to 10,000. Non matter what altitude - 5500, 7500, 9500 - couldn’t get off of this rocking cruise ship.

I’ve not had this before - what was it?

Plane was a 182, 3 people, some luggage, full fuel at departure. Engine manifold and prop set for standard cruise, all running normal.
 
Certainly wave action. Often caused by mountains and such. But also can be caused buy pressure changes. I've seen it across the oceans,( no mountains there) usually smooth air, but constant up and down waves.
 
Any big hills/mountains upwind? Sounds like mountain wave to me!
It was Atlanta (KRYY Kennasaw) south east across GA to Jekyll Island.

We have the Appalations to the north and further north the smokies - but it’s not like they are the Rockies
 
Certainly wave action. Often caused by mountains and such. But also can be caused buy pressure changes. I've seen it across the oceans,( no mountains there) usually smooth air, but constant up and down waves.
Might be it. We had fierce rain on 24- 25, IMC. Then today when we flew then the temp had dropped hard, no clouds at all for the entire trip

I’ve not run into this before. It wasn’t the normal jolting bouncing turbulence - rather it was like a bad day on a boat that keeps swaying
 
It often doesn't take much terrain to move the air up and down as it flows.
 
Either mountain wave or thermal. My guess is thermal given that it was a sunny clear day after a very cold night.
 
Either mountain wave or thermal. My guess is thermal given that it was a sunny clear day after a very cold night.

Could be, but there are some nice ridges northwest of Atlanta up towards ft Payne Al and Rome Ga
 
And the waves can extend hundreds of miles down range from the terrain.
Definitely and with the winds aloft having a northwesterly flow, it seems likely.
 
I've had a similar experience while crossing Pennsylvania from West (KGKJ) to East (KMMU). The last time with 45 knot tail winds (7,500MSL). I attributed it to the uneven terrain below. 182 set up for cruise at 140 MPH indicated.
 
Crossing rivers or other sizable bodies of water?
 
Had similar coming home (south west to north east just east of blue ridge) with a 25 kt tailwind. Autopilot kept having to pitch up and down to keep me within 100’ of my target altitude. No big deal, but yeah it was like being on a ship going over a rolling sea....
 
The OP reminds me of one flight I had where I simply could not hold altitude. I was constantly fighting the needle, and was only able to keep it within about a 150' band. My brother was in the plane, and he kept poking fun at me during my struggles. The frequency of oscillation was slow enough that for a long time, I just thought I was doing a lousy job of trimming, but I eventually I figured out that there was something else going on...though I never really figured out what it was.

This was over NE TX, with no appreciable terrain or weather. (It could have been after a frontal passage, but I was flying westward so you'd think I'd be getting out of whatever lingering weather effects there were, but the experience lasted the whole 300 mile trip.)
 
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