Aircraft: PA28R
Time of Day: 12:30pm
There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, not a single bump on my 5 hour flight, no airmets/sigmets, no forecasted turbulence. It was just a beautiful day for flying.
Descending out of 9,000ft I decided it wouldn't be a big deal to increase my speed to 160-165 knots (Vno is 150 and Vne is 190).
Passing through 4,000 feet, the yoke gets thrown out of my hands (not an exaggeration), my arms suddenly feel really heavy and unable to pull the yoke back, and then I noticed everything in the plane was floating. Everything that wasn't tied came down at once and I noticed some old screws and bolts behind the panel had fallen on the carpet by my feet.
It was all done in 5-10 seconds, and I quickly scanned my PFD and saw the winds calculated by the ADC changed 180 degrees and then back the other way 180 degrees, and I noticed I was more than 500 feet lower than I was when I checked the PFD about 10-15 seconds earlier.
I immediately leveled the aircraft, brought the power to idle, and went to Va as fast as I could and advised ATC that I experienced what I believed to be Severe Clear Air Turbulence. Shortly afterwards a CRJ-200 also reported severe about 50 miles away. Afterwards, I noticed that I had just crossed over a lake and wondered if this was some kind of shear or thermal turbulence.
Am I just paranoid about the possibility of structural damage? I'm going to have my mechanic check the wing spars. What else should he check? I know there can be damage when encountering turbulence above Vno, but am I just overreacting in this? Has anyone had a similar experience and found damage?
This has certainly been a learning experience for me and I'm interested in learning what you all have to say about it. Thanks
Time of Day: 12:30pm
There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, not a single bump on my 5 hour flight, no airmets/sigmets, no forecasted turbulence. It was just a beautiful day for flying.
Descending out of 9,000ft I decided it wouldn't be a big deal to increase my speed to 160-165 knots (Vno is 150 and Vne is 190).
Passing through 4,000 feet, the yoke gets thrown out of my hands (not an exaggeration), my arms suddenly feel really heavy and unable to pull the yoke back, and then I noticed everything in the plane was floating. Everything that wasn't tied came down at once and I noticed some old screws and bolts behind the panel had fallen on the carpet by my feet.
It was all done in 5-10 seconds, and I quickly scanned my PFD and saw the winds calculated by the ADC changed 180 degrees and then back the other way 180 degrees, and I noticed I was more than 500 feet lower than I was when I checked the PFD about 10-15 seconds earlier.
I immediately leveled the aircraft, brought the power to idle, and went to Va as fast as I could and advised ATC that I experienced what I believed to be Severe Clear Air Turbulence. Shortly afterwards a CRJ-200 also reported severe about 50 miles away. Afterwards, I noticed that I had just crossed over a lake and wondered if this was some kind of shear or thermal turbulence.
Am I just paranoid about the possibility of structural damage? I'm going to have my mechanic check the wing spars. What else should he check? I know there can be damage when encountering turbulence above Vno, but am I just overreacting in this? Has anyone had a similar experience and found damage?
This has certainly been a learning experience for me and I'm interested in learning what you all have to say about it. Thanks