Aero-Tips!
A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard
this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer
statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of
"there are no old, bold pilots.") It's part of what makes aviation
so exciting for all of us... just when you think you've seen it
all, along comes a scenario you've never imagined.
Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner,
master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us
-- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators, and as
representatives of the flying community. Some of them, you may have
heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we
might never have considered before, or something that didn't
"stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for
the practical test.
It is our unabashed goal that "Aero-Tips" will help our readers
become better, safer pilots -- as well as introducing our
ground-bound readers to the concepts and principles that keep those
strange aluminum-and-composite contraptions in the air... and allow
them to soar magnificently through it.
Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you
through the Aero-News Network. Suggestions for future Aero-Tips are
always welcome, as are additions or discussion of each day's tips.
Remember... when it comes to being better pilots, we're all in this
together.
Aero-Tips 05.09.06
Dark and appropriately menacing, a wall cloud is the visible
manifestation of extreme turbulence at the leading edge of a
thunderstorm supercell. The wall cloud is well defined and can
range from a fraction of a mile to up to five miles across. Watch
one closely and you’ll see evidence of violent rotation and
upward motion as moist air is sucked into the supercell’s
base, usually before rain begins to fall (which by definition is
only the starting point for a “mature”
thunderstorm).
If the rotation and/or vertical motion is sustained, a wall
cloud may be a precursor to tornadoes. Regardless of tornadic
potential, a wall cloud represents turbulence so violent it will
overpower the capability of any airplane. Localized ground speeds
of supercell thunderstorms can exceed 100 mph, so in the lightest
airplanes straying too close may make escape impossible; faster
aircraft types will pitch and roll out of control in the wind shear
in and near the wall cloud.
Remember, clouds form where moisture condenses, but the
turbulence that creates the cloud may extend further into areas
where the temperature/dew point have not yet met. So wall clouds
warn of extreme turbulence over a much wider area than the cloud
itself defines.
Aero-tip of the day: If it looks bad,
don’t fly anywhere near it. Wall clouds are among the
baddest-looking cloud formations you’ll ever see.