storm chasers flying within one mile of thunderstorm

NoHeat

NoHeat

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What do you think about this:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/aerial-storm-chase-tornado-airplane/65910

excerpts:

"Two pilots took storm chasing to a new extreme last week by chasing supercells from the sky. Caleb Elliott flew Skip Talbot and videographer Phil Bates around severe storms in North Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. ....

Though the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recommends pilots fly no closer than 20 miles to a severe thunderstorm, a fellow "freight dog" taught Elliott how to deal with flying near unexpected severe weather.

... Elliott and Talbot have flown as close as one mile to a supercell. The recommendation to stay at least 20 miles away from storms is "greater than 20 years old," Elliott countered. "We know so much more about thunderstorms [now] that it is no longer really applicable
 
For your average pilot in your average plane this is unusually high risk behavior. Supercells can toss hail quite a ways out from the center of a storm. Not to mention downdrafts and turbulence. You'd want to be well within the green arc and have an out.. flying tangentially to the storm not at it.

I'm not sure the risk justifies the mission.
 
NoHeat said:
... Elliott and Talbot have flown as close as one mile to a supercell. The recommendation to stay at least 20 miles away from storms is "greater than 20 years old," Elliott countered. "We know so much more about thunderstorms [now] that it is no longer really applicable
Click to expand...
Oh, great. "Jackass" on 100LL.

:rolleyes:
 
I used to do this, overseas. I did it in a Learjet outfitted with hard points under the wings, 400 pyrotechnic charges with tracer chemicals in them on the belly, cameras, and other equipment aboard. We didn't fly within a mile of the storm; we flew back and forth repeatedly through the storm.

The run through the cell targets specific returns, temperatures, life cycle stages, and water vapor density. Once through the cell, it's a steep turn pulled right to the shaker to minimize turn radius and time, in order to get back in the cell again.

The forces in those places are incredible, and extremely dangerous, both for their destructive capability as well as their ability to disorient and disrupt. If you think you know unusual attitudes, get ready for an eye opener.

The only way to handle thunderstorms is to stay out completely. Thunderstorms are the finger of God. You're the gnat.
 
I watched a guy from NOAA take off from Harrison AR into a supercell with a nice T-28, when he landed again the plane was totalled, beaten every square inch top and bottom with hail.
 
I know an individual who did that with the Lear. He found liquid water at FL400, and his words as he flew above the cell were "let's see what's in here."

The Lear has a critical leading edge; when the leading edges of the wing are removed for inspection, the airplane needs to be test flown again once they're installed; it's that sensitive, and that critical.

This guy flattened both leading edges, and destroyed both engines, before managing to recover the airplane into Buenos Aires.

He did set a record, I believe, for the highest discovery of liquid precip.
 
I passed about 20 miles behind the OKC tornado a decade or so ago on the way from Wichita Valley TX to Minot ND, that was plenty close.
 
Doggtyred said:
For your average pilot in your average plane this is unusually high risk behavior. Supercells can toss hail quite a ways out from the center of a storm. Not to mention downdrafts and turbulence. You'd want to be well within the green arc and have an out.. flying tangentially to the storm not at it.

I'm not sure the risk justifies the mission.
Click to expand...

An article I recently read about the WC130s say they fly at Va
 
Tempting fate is an adrenaline rush, but where to do you go to keep the thrill going?

Great pictures. Hopefully, they can help weather research.
 
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