Vertical vortex

[Canyon Runner]

Climbing out of Renton a couple miles east of SeaTac Seattle WA. Seattle had a monster wind storm the day before we arrived with blown down trees and many that lost power in May. My wife and I did our business and climbed in to our Rockwell Commander 114 with a turbo normalizer . We climbed east toward Wenatchee on the east side of the Cascades.We were climbing at 100 knots at about 5000 ft , 3000 above ground as the Cascades were rising with us. It was rough air tossing us around but nothing we had not been in before. Suddenly we hit a vertical spinning vortex and in two seconds flipped nose down and we’re upside down then pointing straight down at full power.I stopped the flip with the elevator pulled the power down and the planes torque started rolling us upright to a nice level flight. Talk about a jolt 100 knots climb and upside down the other way in two seconds. We headed back to Renton a bit rattled as the ATC could tell my voice was crackling a bit. We landed got a hotel for the night and headed for the bar to calm us down. I’m just glad we were in a 2800 lb Commander not a cub or something small. Has ANYONE ever hit a vertical vortex. Very rare none of my pilot friends ever heard of it. I had to look it up myself !

 

[luvflyin]

Climbing out of Renton a couple miles east of SeaTac Seattle WA. Seattle had a monster wind storm the day before we arrived with blown down trees and many that lost power in May. My wife and I did our business and climbed in to our Rockwell Commander 114 with a turbo normalizer . We climbed east toward Wenatchee on the east side of the Cascades.We were climbing at 100 knots at about 5000 ft , 3000 above ground as the Cascades were rising with us. It was rough air tossing us around but nothing we had not been in before. Suddenly we hit a vertical spinning vortex and in two seconds flipped nose down and we’re upside down then pointing straight down at full power.I stopped the flip with the elevator pulled the power down and the planes torque started rolling us upright to a nice level flight. Talk about a jolt 100 knots climb and upside down the other way in two seconds. We headed back to Renton a bit rattled as the ATC could tell my voice was crackling a bit. We landed got a hotel for the night and headed for the bar to calm us down. I’m just glad we were in a 2800 lb Commander not a cub or something small. Has ANYONE ever hit a vertical vortex. Very rare none of my pilot friends ever heard of it. I had to look it up myself !

Not that bad but I've been caught in what I knew as a Rotor. I see Vertical Vortex is the same thing. It was in the Owens Valley in California. It didn't flip the plane but I got some serious rates of climb and descent. Good job keeping your cool and recovering.

 

[Morgan3820]

Wow! Great job on keeping things together. You have an awesome wife if she gets back in the plane.

 

[frfly172]

Glad you handled the situation,must have been a very scary situation. Good job

 

[Hang 4]

Look up dust devil. Did a few hang gliding competitions in West Texas and saw 1,200 fpm thermals. The dust was 3000 feet high. Fly over one and hang on for dear life. East side of the Cascades has good weather and terrain for strong thermals as well. Looks like a tornado with no cloud.

 

[RonP]

With the experience Canyon Runner had is there any chance the airframe got over stressed?

 

[Zeldman]

Fly over one and hang on for dear life.

I hit one on take off. No dust so I suspect it was just forming, plus it came off the grass and onto the pavement. I was about 15 agl when I hit it. It felt as if the plane (C-414) came to a complete stop in the air for a nano second, but it didn't. And at the same time the plane started turning right so I applied heavy left rudder, wondering if an engine had failed. Then as soon as it started, it stopped. The entire episode lasted maybe 3 seconds.

Here in NM I have guesstimated some of the strong summer dust devils I have flown close to were up to approximately 3000 feet.

 

[luvflyin]

With the experience Canyon Runner had is there any chance the airframe got over stressed?

Hmm. @Canyon Runner , ya still here? May be something to think about.

 

[EdFred]

This happened on the windward side of the Cascades? Weird.

 

[RonP]

Guess Canyon Runner is out flying. Any airframe mechanics have insight if the situation Canyon Runner got into can stress an airframe?