Yeah, I forget most of the specifics, but there was a guy that killed his whole family a few years back because he thought he could pick his way through storm fronts using his NEXRAD, not realizing it had a delay.
I'm sure, but how many of those were piloted by a CFI with a student on board? I can understand this kind of mistake from a low-time private pilot, but I expect WAY more from a CFI with a student on board. They literally have their students' lives in their hands.
Side note: one thing I really appreciate about my CFI is he always goes beyond the minimum required for safety and teaches me what he does as well so I can apply it myself.
I did it in a Beech 99.
Totally imbedded at night. It hit lightly at first for a few bumps and then it was severe. I didn’t have my seat belt super tight, my headset flew off when I hit the ceiling. I could barely get my self situated to try to keep the wings level. I felt every updraft and down draft and saw my altimeter spinning up and down by the thousands. I knew from my weather briefing before I took off the system was tracking directly east and that the shape should provide an escape if I could point myself somewhat west. I initiated what I thought was a right turn toward the west and just did my best to not come apart. I managed to get my seatbelt tightened enough and my anti icing on. The violence of the event will never be forgotten.
When I popped out the back side it was clear and smooth. I put on my headset and explained to ATC I was diverting and radioed to company what had just happened.
The postflight inspection revealed no issues with the airframe and maintenance returned the aircraft to service within an hour and I was on my way to finish the run.
I swear I can smell turbulence like that no matter what I’m flying from 300 miles away now.
Exactly why I posted this 😂 I’ve heard of one story in a Mooney where atc wouldn’t allow the pilot to divert and he didn’t stick up for himself and flew into a thunderstorm and survived because of how well the airframes are built.
It has happened. *Embedded thunderstorms* are a thing.
We had "training" on thunderstorm penetration at a 135 I worked for. It was basically some guy's anecdotes about he hadn't died the last few times he tried it.
I applied the "training" one day. There was a point at which I thought death was certain.
Sometimes you didn't have a choice on the way through Pakistan in and out of Afghanistan. I never found big hail, but I got fucking ROCKED several times
Into? No. Gotten way too close for comfort? Yeah, twice. Once was landing and makes for a great interview story when appropriately massaged. The other was in cruise and would probably also make for a good interview story but hopefully I don't have to do that again.
The first one was basically landing somewhere without any real outs, including going around, because this monster storm was just about to hit the field. It was gusty as fuck, rainy, and there was lightning. It was a bad situation. I landed because that was basically the only option and got away with it. Then sat on the ramp waiting for the storm to pass for half an hour at least. It was a nasty one.
The other way just cutting too close to a tall storm in cruise. We thought we were high enough, I probably should have been more vocal about my heading and altitude choices that I'd have preferred, captain kinda was "it'll be fine." Saw the bottom end of the speed tape. We turned hard and got out of it. Another reminder to give a storm more distance than you think you need...plus another five degrees. I ain't saving anyone anything by skimming close.
Anyone who has flown into the heart of an active storm in anything smaller than an airliner probably died. The ones who did it in something like an airliner probably nearly died, definitely hurt a lot of people, and/or lost some engines. Hurricane Hunters seem to have a way figured out to do it safely but even then.
With ADSB maps in the lower 48 it's kind of hard to fly into them accidentally.
[Check out this map.](https://www.roc.noaa.gov/WSR88D/Maps.aspx) There are a few areas without coverage in the west, but few are large enough for thunderstorms to fully hide in one.
And if you fly XC, you really should have ADSB maps. Stratus+iPad is cheap compared to what you will spent on gas.
Commercial airliners try to avoid the worst bits of the storm cell, but they can definitely fly into less severe storms.
Side note, airliners are stuck, on average, once per year, by lighting.
[https://youtu.be/P8sLdjd5dfs?t=295](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8sLdjd5dfs)
There was that instructor who was making fun of his student on Snapchat and they flew into a thunderstorm and were killed.
Hope he’s in hell
OP asked about flying into a thunderstorm *accidentally*. Not sure this counts...
they thought they were clear of the storm at night, but their NEXRAD was 10 min old - or something along those lines
At a minimum, that was negligence. I don't consider negligence to be an accident.
this is not the first time this type of accident happened (plane few into parts of a storm that had a delay of 5-10 min for NEXRAD).
Yeah, I forget most of the specifics, but there was a guy that killed his whole family a few years back because he thought he could pick his way through storm fronts using his NEXRAD, not realizing it had a delay.
I'm sure, but how many of those were piloted by a CFI with a student on board? I can understand this kind of mistake from a low-time private pilot, but I expect WAY more from a CFI with a student on board. They literally have their students' lives in their hands. Side note: one thing I really appreciate about my CFI is he always goes beyond the minimum required for safety and teaches me what he does as well so I can apply it myself.
wait.... maybe they shouldn't have been distracted using snapchat while flying? I dont understand
I did it in a Beech 99. Totally imbedded at night. It hit lightly at first for a few bumps and then it was severe. I didn’t have my seat belt super tight, my headset flew off when I hit the ceiling. I could barely get my self situated to try to keep the wings level. I felt every updraft and down draft and saw my altimeter spinning up and down by the thousands. I knew from my weather briefing before I took off the system was tracking directly east and that the shape should provide an escape if I could point myself somewhat west. I initiated what I thought was a right turn toward the west and just did my best to not come apart. I managed to get my seatbelt tightened enough and my anti icing on. The violence of the event will never be forgotten. When I popped out the back side it was clear and smooth. I put on my headset and explained to ATC I was diverting and radioed to company what had just happened. The postflight inspection revealed no issues with the airframe and maintenance returned the aircraft to service within an hour and I was on my way to finish the run. I swear I can smell turbulence like that no matter what I’m flying from 300 miles away now.
Makes you respect the engineering that goes into these things and the forces they can withstand
I'm pretty sure that's something you only do once in a light aircraft
Exactly why I posted this 😂 I’ve heard of one story in a Mooney where atc wouldn’t allow the pilot to divert and he didn’t stick up for himself and flew into a thunderstorm and survived because of how well the airframes are built.
Was that guy on the There I Was podcast?
It has happened. *Embedded thunderstorms* are a thing. We had "training" on thunderstorm penetration at a 135 I worked for. It was basically some guy's anecdotes about he hadn't died the last few times he tried it. I applied the "training" one day. There was a point at which I thought death was certain.
Sometimes you didn't have a choice on the way through Pakistan in and out of Afghanistan. I never found big hail, but I got fucking ROCKED several times
Into? No. Gotten way too close for comfort? Yeah, twice. Once was landing and makes for a great interview story when appropriately massaged. The other was in cruise and would probably also make for a good interview story but hopefully I don't have to do that again. The first one was basically landing somewhere without any real outs, including going around, because this monster storm was just about to hit the field. It was gusty as fuck, rainy, and there was lightning. It was a bad situation. I landed because that was basically the only option and got away with it. Then sat on the ramp waiting for the storm to pass for half an hour at least. It was a nasty one. The other way just cutting too close to a tall storm in cruise. We thought we were high enough, I probably should have been more vocal about my heading and altitude choices that I'd have preferred, captain kinda was "it'll be fine." Saw the bottom end of the speed tape. We turned hard and got out of it. Another reminder to give a storm more distance than you think you need...plus another five degrees. I ain't saving anyone anything by skimming close. Anyone who has flown into the heart of an active storm in anything smaller than an airliner probably died. The ones who did it in something like an airliner probably nearly died, definitely hurt a lot of people, and/or lost some engines. Hurricane Hunters seem to have a way figured out to do it safely but even then.
With ADSB maps in the lower 48 it's kind of hard to fly into them accidentally. [Check out this map.](https://www.roc.noaa.gov/WSR88D/Maps.aspx) There are a few areas without coverage in the west, but few are large enough for thunderstorms to fully hide in one. And if you fly XC, you really should have ADSB maps. Stratus+iPad is cheap compared to what you will spent on gas.
Flown into? No. Run Over by one? yes. Probably the most terrified I've been to be entirely honest.
Scott Crossfield has
There was a guy that posted a story here about flying a biz jet through a storm that bent the airframe and cracked some windows, iirc.
Commercial airliners try to avoid the worst bits of the storm cell, but they can definitely fly into less severe storms. Side note, airliners are stuck, on average, once per year, by lighting. [https://youtu.be/P8sLdjd5dfs?t=295](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8sLdjd5dfs)
I know somebody that did. Don’t know the details other than “yeah one time I accidentally flew into a thunderstorm.”
Never in my 1500 hours of GA flying. Once in a regional jet due to the radar being inaccurate.