The heaviest rain I’ve flown in was in a Bonanza, departing Birmingham (Alabama, not UK). There was a good inch of standing water on the apron when I taxied out and it was lashing it down. Surprisingly, there wasn’t really much in the way of convective activity.
I don’t recall any performance degradation.
Quote departing Birmingham (Alabama, not UK)
Did you see the Vulcan?
alioth wrote:
I don’t recall any performance degradation.
Due to you flying one of the most iconic aircraft in the world, the Beechcraft Bonanza.
Seriously though if it was that bad should you have even departed?
BeechBaby wrote:
Due to you flying one of the most iconic aircraft in the world, the Beechcraft Bonanza.
Is it another PhD study/article on how V-tail work well for flying in rain? 
BeechBaby wrote:
Seriously though if it was that bad should you have even departed?
There was no convective activity, just a lot of rain and cloud, and I’d already flown in it (this was a fuel stop, so I’d already flown the ILS and knew what the general conditions aloft were like first hand).
hD study/article on how V-tail work well for flying in rain
Dr Google is your friend there. So well proven that the V tail flies much better than straight tail in the rain. Performs better in cloud also. Sweet spot is 250’…..
We have flown our Skylane in very very heavy rain. And we have departed in (singular) very heavy rain. It does make some noise (the rain) and sometimes the aircraft whistles. We view it as interesting, but not hazardous by itself. It cleans the bugs off the leading edge. Sometimes the heavy rain is accompanied by high/changing winds together with turbulence. That masks the more subtle effects the wing would show. If any. Leaving in high rain will make you very happy to have a high wing aircraft. (Because of the difficulty of loading the airplane on the ground.)
A good effect of a heavy rain is that it tends to be less crowded and faster/easier to get direct clearances!
Ultranomad wrote:
In particular, I have seen such a warning in the flight manual for SF-25 Falke motor glider (also known as Slingsby T61).
I have flown an SF25B and wasn’t able to maintain altitude in rain with full power. So yes, rain can bring an aircraft down :-)
Thats weird, I had a SF25C with 65hp engine and it took off and flew quite OK in the rain..
