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.

FMI: Aero-Tips