Thunderstorm Encounter

Stephen Pope

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 09:14 PM ET

Verified

While you never want to find yourself in a
thunderstorm, here's what to do to get out of
one alive.

Key Takeaways:

A student pilot narrowly survived inadvertently flying into a severe thunderstorm during a solo cross-country flight, experiencing extreme turbulence, lightning, and near-crash conditions due to downdrafts.
The most critical lesson for pilots is to avoid thunderstorms at all costs, maintaining a wide berth (e.g., 20 miles) from severe weather cells.
If caught in a thunderstorm, pilots should maintain a constant attitude at reduced airspeed, focus on instruments, and fly a straight course through the storm rather than attempting turns or trying to hold altitude to minimize stress on the aircraft.

See a mistake? Contact us.

A fellow pilot recently recounted the harrowing tale of one of his early solo cross-country flights as a student pilot that inadvertently put him where no pilot wants to be: inside the bowels of a thunderstorm.

According to the pilot, the summer haze along his route had cut the visibility to less than five miles, making it hard for him to see the storm until it was too late. Before he knew what had hit him, he was being rocked by severe turbulence as lightning flashed around him.