How Rain May Affect Aircraft Performance

To my mind, only a couple of decent reasons exist to fly through rain: First, because your destination is out there in or beyond the precip-and its light rain and not far through it, at that; second, because youre too cheap or lazy to wash the plane normally. Otherwise, rain stands among those conditions to not take lightly-and on many fronts, to be taken as a condition to avoid as much as possible. When you think about it systematically, a lot goes on with the airplane when exposed to rain and-aside from the possibility of improved cooling on a hot day-its difficult to conjure up much to commend rain flying to anyone. But, we know youre going to fly in the rain; we do, too, but begrudgingly and guardedly-or avoid it if the datalink weather returns show orange or red. So instead of saying, "Dont do what we do, have done, and will probably do again," we offer five strong reasons to make you think about whats happening to the aircraft when flown in rain.

Key Takeaways:

• Rain compromises aircraft systems (e.g., electrical, pitot-static) and fuel integrity, while also allowing water accumulation in control surfaces, impacting weight and balance.
• Aerodynamically, rain significantly degrades performance by reducing lift, increasing drag, and raising stall speeds, particularly at high angles of attack.
• Weather systems producing rain often create an unsettled ride, turbulence, and hazardous downdrafts or microbursts, posing risks of sudden altitude loss.

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