Handling Turbulence

The hangar conversation followed lines one expects on a gusty, blustery, bombastic-air day—with turbulence the topic of the moment. “As soon as Flight Service passed on that Pirep about moderate-to-heavy turbulence ahead, I slowed to VB,” explained the ATP cooling off with some colleagues after his heavy day flying a FAR 23 business jet. “Told the boss she we needed to live with slower or risk not outliving the air.”

Key Takeaways:

• The article differentiates between VA (design maneuvering speed, for abrupt control inputs) and VB (design speed for maximum gust intensity, for sudden gusts), with VB being the more relevant speed for turbulence.
• Crucially, both VA and VB decrease as an aircraft's weight decreases (e.g., due to fuel burn), meaning that the published speeds, which are typically for maximum gross takeoff weight, are not safe limits when the aircraft is lighter.
• For general aviation aircraft where lighter-weight VA/VB values are rarely published, pilots should reduce speed below the published MGTOW VA in turbulence; a rule of thumb is to fly no more than twice the aircraft's current stall speed (VS) to ensure airframe integrity.

Key takeaways sponsored by Aviator Pro | Start Your Training ->

See a mistake? Contact us.