I used to think that once you get into a pressurized/turbo’d plane, you could top most of the convective stuff. That’s not the case. You kind of need a jet with FL410 capacity to be able to do that. And even then there will be days when you can’t, I’m told. That said, in my experience, mostly the non-convective stuff stops after about FL150-200, so if its mushy but stable down low you can almost always enjoy the sunshine up top in a pressurized or turbo aircraft. You do hear the occasional Citation trip at FL350 entirely in the soup, but that has to be pretty rare.
I am puzzled about them clearing customs after a flight Austria-Denmark. Isn’t that all Schengen?
Seba wrote:
I am puzzled about them clearing customs after a flight Austria-Denmark. Isn’t that all Schengen?
It’s all EU so there can’t be any customs to clear. Schengen is not about customs but immigration. Denmark has partially suspended Schengen the last few years. It might be that the guy was sloppy and said “customs” when he means “immigration”.
Airborne_Again wrote:
It’s all EU so there can’t be any customs to clear. Schengen is not about customs but immigration. Denmark has partially suspended Schengen the last few years. It might be that the guy was sloppy and said “customs” when he means “immigration”.
I go to Denmark quite often and I know about temporary (random) border controls when driving from DE to DK but as far as I remember there is no inbound immigration check when flying to DK with an airline. I have been there in November and no one wanted to see my passport. I have never been there with a GA flight though so probably they do check those.
I thought the stop in Denmark was for immigration as the next stop was Wick – outside Schengen
AdamFrisch wrote:
I used to think that once you get into a pressurized/turbo’d plane, you could top most of the convective stuff. That’s not the case. You kind of need a jet with FL410 capacity to be able to do that. And even then there will be days when you can’t, I’m told. That said, in my experience, mostly the non-convective stuff stops after about FL150-200, so if its mushy but stable down low you can almost always enjoy the sunshine up top in a pressurized or turbo aircraft. You do hear the occasional Citation trip at FL350 entirely in the soup, but that has to be pretty rare.
A lot of the storms I encountered from my days as crew were out of Houston, into Abuja, crossing West Africa to/from Cape Town and across the Bay of Bengal. Incredibly rough stuff. The ones out of Houston were embedded, so we was strapped in for 45 minutes after departure with huge drops every other minute or so and then smoothness. Anything that wasn’t strapped in would hit the cabin ceiling.
Talking of being in the soup, I departed in early August a few years back for Abu Dhabi and we was in the soup up to FL350 and out into Belgium airspace. Again we was strapped in for a good 30 minutes. Coming out of Chicago severe turbulence in the soup was forecast due Heavy Rain, but was actually not bad as we must have just missed it. (Was ex-Hurricane I believe)
Interestingly the stuff we had May/June 2018 last year, that went up to FL350 which for the UK is quite impressive. Wouldn’t have liked to have flown near that.
Ibra wrote:
I guess that kind of extreme weather is well localized and should be easy to spot and avoid? how long it persisted and how wide its area?You will have more chance of getting severe turbulence even in weak CBs: as they are wide you have more chance of getting into them?
I would not consider FL200 CB as “weak” for any aircraft, that height is roughly 600mb static pressure and approximately converted to 200kts dynamic pressure (enough to get any aircraft exceeding its VNE from cruise speed), tough few have flown them and survived to tell about what happened https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/j.1477-8696.1955.tb00220.x
But it should be ok to get into 5000ft CBs on gliders or C172 at stall speeds…
Of course any CB is not weak affair, but having experienced the ITCZ across Africa, Bay of Bengal, Malaysia, Singapore and Texas – nothing compares to those beasts. Although all except Texas were very brief and fast moving. Coming into Heathrow was always a nightmare, that place is like Tornado Alley. I am sure it’s something to do with the reservoirs nearby.
Once spoke to a B744 captain, who was coming out of Heathrow I think it was and ended up in a CB. Fully loaded Jumbo with power off. +500fpm vertical speed inside the cell, and smooth as anything. Strange?
One more video, the best till now for me… playing with the plane 14000 over greenland…
The most important news of this video seems to be that HF is no longer required for atlantic crossing. Have I understood that correctly?
And what does CC mean?
You don’t need HF for the VFR northern route, or above a certain FL IFR.
highflyer wrote:
The most important news of this video seems to be that HF is no longer required for atlantic crossing. Have I understood that correctly?
You could always cross the Atlantic without HF, subject to route and level restrictions.
