You would think pilots would have learned their lesson about messing with thunderstorms, especially landing in or near them. I mean, we’re almost 40 years beyond the defining moment in understanding wind shear and microbursts, the August 1985 crash of Delta Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011, in Dallas, Texas. Add to that, many aircraft now have wind shear alert systems, and quite a few airports offer low-level wind shear detection and warning systems (LLWAS). And even if you don’t have the luxury of some of these technologies, you probably have access to weather radar data, either from an onboard system or datalink, and even on your cellphone or tablet. There really aren’t many excuses left to paint yourself into a corner with cumulonimbus near the runway.
Yet, pilots still tend to get themselves in such a bind, with some being “lucky” enough to get away with it. Others, however, find out the hard way that Mother Nature’s warning of lightning and thunder aren’t to be reckoned with, and end up somewhere other than on the runway during the landing process. The question remains, though, with so many explicit warnings—from weather books and articles to dark clouds and lightning—why do pilots keep doing such a nonsensical thing as trying to go toe-to-toe with a storm while attempting to land?
