Flying through Turbulence!

[FlyingMonkey]

I had a recent flight through the bumps a little stronger than usual and caught it on camera. It got me thinking again about the best way to fly through turbulence and inspired me to do some research. Through forums and articles I found some super interesting information and want to share it. Hope you enjoy the video and find it useful!

 

[WannFly]

great video. thanks for the links and the spreadsheet

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Thanks! Hope it is useful for you.

 

[ActiveAir]

I'm sure you know by now, that in that area, when the winds are out of the north, you can expect some turbulence. Some of the gnarliest turbulence I've had was coming over the Grapevine, and north of Van Nuys. If I were to rank areas where I have encountered the worst, I would say, 1.) just southeast of Mt. Baldy by Cucamonga Peak at about 5k' +, approaching the Cajon Pass. Had to fly away from the rocks to get out of the rotors, and I climbed up to 9500 before it calmed down. 2.) A couple trips through the Owens Valley were interesting. Had the plane pointed up but went down, then recovered and had the plane pointed down and went up. Rotors again. 3.) Coming over the Grapevine in IMC, north of Van Nuys. Wife really hated that one.

I have flown through the Banning pass by Palm springs many times, and had some turb, but not as bad as these other places.

My turb procedure is to tighten the lap belt right away, slow it down to Va or below, (based on weight), and counter with control inputs quickly, but don't fight it so as to bend anything.

Another factor is understanding the pireps. One guy's light turb report is another guy's moderate and one guy's moderate is another guy's severe. I have never bent the plane, but have had momentary losses of control - which is to say that I have been in some intense moderate, but no severe.

 

[SoCal RV Flyer]

Yeah, base of the Cajon Pass can be brutal over Rialto. My Phase 1 area (the 40 hour test period for an Experimental) was in the high desert, so I've flown the pass many times from Cable. A couple of times I've turned around, because stuff flying around the cockpit is not conducive to concentration.

A couple trips through the Owens Valley were interesting. Had the plane pointed up but went down, then recovered and had the plane pointed down and went up. Rotors again.

My experience as well; fought through a half-hour of what you just described, and it seemed like 2 hours! I made a vow to never fly that way again in the afternoon. Early morning only, and the forecast winds have to be light.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

I'm sure you know by now, that in that area, when the winds are out of the north, you can expect some turbulence. Some of the gnarliest turbulence I've had was coming over the Grapevine, and north of Van Nuys. If I were to rank areas where I have encountered the worst, I would say, 1.) just southeast of Mt. Baldy by Cucamonga Peak at about 5k' +, approaching the Cajon Pass. Had to fly away from the rocks to get out of the rotors, and I climbed up to 9500 before it calmed down. 2.) A couple trips through the Owens Valley were interesting. Had the plane pointed up but went down, then recovered and had the plane pointed down and went up. Rotors again. 3.) Coming over the Grapevine in IMC, north of Van Nuys. Wife really hated that one.

I have flown through the Banning pass by Palm springs many times, and had some turb, but not as bad as these other places.

My turb procedure is to tighten the lap belt right away, slow it down to Va or below, (based on weight), and counter with control inputs quickly, but don't fight it so as to bend anything.

Another factor is understanding the pireps. One guy's light turb report is another guy's moderate and one guy's moderate is another guy's severe. I have never bent the plane, but have had momentary losses of control - which is to say that I have been in some intense moderate, but no severe.

Oh yeah the areas you describe can be really bad. I've heard stories about the Owens Valley- a couple years ago my then CFI was working for a charter company and some guy flew a King Air into some really bad mountain wave and almost killed everyone and damaged the airplane in the turbulence. The winds were like 50-70knots over the peaks and I have no idea why he was flying to Mammoth in those conditions. The one time I have flown to Mammoth through the Owens Valley it was super smooth. All good ideas in your post on how to fly through turbulence and yes it should start with tighten that lap belt! I have learned that the hard way.

 

[Tantalum]

Owens Valley

Yup! Only time I ever felt the need to slow the Cirrus to maneuvering speed.. girlfriend slept through most of it, but woke up when her book landed in her lap. GFC700 though worked fine, rested left hand on the stick just in case

 

[Tantalum]

50-70knots over the peaks and I have no idea why he was flying to Mammoth in those conditions.

It was 50-60 when I went.. was actually very smooth most of the way, except for about 15 minutes towards the end of it.. I went high, 15K, but on the descent in between 9 and 12000 was pretty rough

But this is how we learn!

 

[Brad W]

I remember a couple rides like that when i was working on my instrument rating in a 172N.... I was young then...and probably pretty dumb...but I had complete faith in that old rental and actually enjoyed the challenge....could barely read the charts!

 

[aftCG]

I'm sure you know by now, that in that area, when the winds are out of the north, you can expect some turbulence. Some of the gnarliest turbulence I've had was coming over the Grapevine, and north of Van Nuys. If I were to rank areas where I have encountered the worst, I would say, 1.) just southeast of Mt. Baldy by Cucamonga Peak at about 5k' +, approaching the Cajon Pass. Had to fly away from the rocks to get out of the rotors, and I climbed up to 9500 before it calmed down. 2.) A couple trips through the Owens Valley were interesting. Had the plane pointed up but went down, then recovered and had the plane pointed down and went up. Rotors again. 3.) Coming over the Grapevine in IMC, north of Van Nuys. Wife really hated that one.

I have flown through the Banning pass by Palm springs many times, and had some turb, but not as bad as these other places.

My turb procedure is to tighten the lap belt right away, slow it down to Va or below, (based on weight), and counter with control inputs quickly, but don't fight it so as to bend anything.

Another factor is understanding the pireps. One guy's light turb report is another guy's moderate and one guy's moderate is another guy's severe. I have never bent the plane, but have had momentary losses of control - which is to say that I have been in some intense moderate, but no severe.

RE: pireps. I was taught that it's not moderate turbulence until the seatbelts leave bruises.

 

[LongRoadBob]

This got me wondering. That formula for converting Vspeeds from gross weight to actual weight...

Can anyone go through it and explain exactly how the formula works? I was wondering the other day, Vspeeds when less than gross weight the Vspeed would be different but some types would result in higher speeds for less than gross, where others would need adjusting lower? How does one formula convert both types?

Would you have to switch the values for actual rate/gross weight square root?

 

[CharlieD3]

I had a recent flight through the bumps a little stronger than usual and caught it on camera. It got me thinking again about the best way to fly through turbulence and inspired me to do some research. Through forums and articles I found some super interesting information and want to share it. Hope you enjoy the video and find it useful!

Thanks for this and the links in the you tube...
Very informative.

fly to the scene of the incident, or be recovered at the scene of the tragedy