Using Spherics

Both spherics and NEXRAD have blind spots and neither is infallible. Spherics devices can have false negatives because they dont see those static discharges until they happen. While most cells with dangerous opposing currents also produce significant static, nature is inherently unpredictable and the static discharges can lag. Of course, the delays in getting NEXRAD images to the cockpit can lead to significant errors. Plus, radar only seeing precipitation, not turbulence, can cause difficulty interpreting the image.

Editorial Staff

Wednesday, June 08, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Thunderstorms, especially those in squall lines, pose extreme dangers to aircraft due to severe turbulence and associated lightning, leading to loss of control.
Pilot weather avoidance systems like radar (e.g., NEXRAD) detect precipitation, which infers storm activity but doesn't directly indicate turbulence and can be delayed or misleading.
Spherics devices (e.g., Stormscope) directly detect electrical discharges within clouds, which are strongly correlated with the violent updrafts and downdrafts responsible for dangerous turbulence.
The most effective strategy for thunderstorm avoidance involves combining data from both radar and spherics, leveraging timely onboard spherics information as a primary indicator of turbulence-causing activity, while still considering radar for precipitation type and overall weather patterns.

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Almost 10 years ago, a well-experienced friend of mine flew a well-equipped Cessna 421 into a squall line. The airplane did not break up in the air; instead, he lost control and went straight in vertically. The impact crater was in the shape and size of the front of the airplane. The NTSB confirmed the whole plane was there by weighing the mostly unidentifiable bits that resulted.

Our takeaway is not to mess with squall lines. Oh, and squall lines contain thunderstorms. Avoid them, too. And, yup, thunderstorms contain lightning. Best to go around that as well.