Three Strikes

Not all that long ago, flying in thunderstorm weather was more of an art than a science. Weather radar hadn’t been invented; the only real technology available was to use the ADF and avoid areas to which its needle pointed. Grizzled veterans with years of experience flogging DC-3s across the Great Plains had developed their personal methods for dealing with them. Too often, those methods allowed penetration—sometimes at low levels, maybe at higher ones—and didn’t stress avoidance. These days, a pilot with a fraction of the experience those captains had is favored with many more tools with which to locate and avoid convective weather. In heavy-iron operations—and even smaller ones—extremely capable airborne weather radar is the norm. Even flivver drivers can access satellite- or ground-based Nexrad weather radar imagery for not much in the way of expensive hardware or subscriptions. The Nexrad option also affords pilots the ability to scroll well beyond an airborne radar’s range to look at conditions they won’t encounter for hours, if ever, in near-real-time.

Key Takeaways:

• While modern aviation provides advanced tools like Nexrad for weather avoidance, these have limitations (e.g., data lag), and their misuse or overconfidence can lead to fatal accidents.
• A fatal accident involving a Beech Bonanza illustrates this danger, as the pilot, despite having advanced weather information and a documented history of flying into severe conditions, deliberately entered an area of extreme precipitation.
• The NTSB determined the probable cause was the pilot's continued flight into known adverse weather, with a contributing factor being the air traffic controller's failure to provide complete precipitation information.

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