On Thu, 09 Jun 2005 17:37:20 GMT, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN"
wrote:

Don't worry about altitude excursions *at all*. My father told me about
crossing the Sea of Japan and getting caught in a thunderstorm. Upon being
querried by the copilot, he told him: "Don't worry everybody is in the same
updraft". That may or may not be true but more aircraft are bent by
overstressing than by collision. I've been at idle with the nose pointing
downhill and been climbing at a rate that pegged the VSI upward. I chose to let
the altitude go. Talking to ATC is a low priority compared to keeping the wings
level. That is your primary concern... wings level.

I'm a believer in the straight ahead method unless you have a reason not to.
Remember, thunderstorms are shaped like a "V" with the narrowest point down low.
Sometimes ATC will swear there's a huge area in front of you when in fact there
are numerous holes... down low. I prefer to fly underneath if at all possible.
With embedded storms, that isn't possible. You take what you get and hope you
get spit out on the other side intact.

They are *very* scary.

The one I passed close to while flying to Oshkosh in the UPF-7 Waco
was scary enough, and we were trying to stay away from it. This was
easy to do though because the cells were widely isolated and the
visibility between them was very good. It was late in the afternoon
which greatly contributed to their presence.

As I mentioned, the clouds were a vicious dark blue/green color and
the pure white column of rain coming down on the center of Chicago
literally blotted out the entire center of the city. Lightning bolts
were striking all around the water column every two to three seconds.
Wish I'd had a camcorder along.

Couldn't imagine attempting to fly through it because of the dense
column of water and lightning strikes. And I'm not even going to
think about the turbulence...

Anyone read that story about the fighter pilot who bailed out of his
jet and floated down through a thundercell? I use the word "floated"
loosely, it took him a long time between plummeting down and being
blasted up, all the while being cannonaded by blasts of lightning and
ear piercing concussions of thunder.

Guess it wasn't his day to go that day.

Did a quick Google search and found the story:
http://www.aero.com/publications/par...610/pc1096.htm

Corky Scott