Beware of the Benign

Rain showers and thunderstorms are one and the same from a pilot's perspective.

Scott Dennstaedt, Ph.D

Friday, June 09, 2023 at 01:07 PM ET

Verified

Edited By: tccjeremy

[Credit: Jim Stevensen]

Key Takeaways:

Pilots should shift their focus from solely avoiding thunderstorms to exercising extreme caution around all deep, moist convection, including seemingly benign rain showers, as they pose similar dangers.
Rain showers, a form of deep moist convection, can produce severe turbulence and dangerous microbursts even without lightning, making them as hazardous as thunderstorms from a pilot's perspective.
Microbursts, violent and localized downdrafts, frequently originate from high-based, innocent-looking convective cells that can lure pilots into a false sense of security, rather than just supercell thunderstorms.

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What’s the most significant weather threat for summertime flying? Here’s a hint: it’s not thunderstorms. Sure, it’s vital that pilots flying any type of aircraft exercise extreme caution when flying near a thunderstorm. Certainly, any pilot who tangles with a thunderstorm might pay the ultimate price. But it doesn’t take a supercell thunderstorm to ruin your day. So, given how many general aviation pilots nowadays rely on data link weather for avoidance, we need to modify the training narrative and move away from a discussion of thunderstorms to a discussion of convection.

This Article First Appeared in FLYING Magazine

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