NewYorkophile
Fly Casual
Just a war story that I'd like to share (happened about 3 weeks ago). Flying a Herk in OIF, so forgive my vagueness.
Preflight forecast: Heavy thunderstorms (the size of Virginia) about 100 miles west of destination, stationary, no forecast IFR or storms at destination. Entire mission at night.
We'll be making two stops within 2 hours of each other at this location, so our first stop will give us a chance to check things out. On our way in, we see the TS on radar about 70 miles west of the field- no biggie, VMC prevails. Land, get new load, takeoff for intermediate stop. On departure (30 minutes later) we notice TS now only 35-40 miles from the field...they're moving east, and ALOT faster than forecast. While on the ground at our gas stop, we go inside and get a weather brief for our second stop at destination. "Still should stay west, might see dust pickup and drop the vis a bit, but no convective or haz forecast." So we gas up and head back out. On our way in, thunderstorms are now 10 miles east of the field...alright, closer, but the field's VFR and we're not staying long. About 60 miles out our dest goes IFR for dust, but ceiling is still unlimited. We get lined up for the PAR and start in- our radar is clear of any storms. At 10 miles out, we can see the runway lights (so its practically VMC). The final controller advises us after glideslope capture that there is a "return" on his scope about 3 miles in front of us. We still don't see anything and acknowledge. About a mile from that point we see a dusty cloud layer below us...it looks like we'll pass over it at the 7 mile point, but as soon as we hit it, we immediately get moderate-sev turbulence and the winds rapidly start shifting. The plane is becoming harder and harder to control, and the turb is getting violent. After 10-15 seconds of abuse, we call go around and put the throttles to the wall...the plane just mushes around. Our airspeed is fluxing from 120-160, barely within gear overspeed limits and 50% flap stall speeds, and the plane refuses to climb. We're around 1500AGL, still VMC, in severe windshear. The plane mushes for another 15-20 seconds at 1500 before starting to climb (meanwhile, we're still holding on for life in the turbs). We turn southbound, report severe windshear/turb on final, and terminate the rest of the mission to head home. On our way out we ended up going through more severe turbulence in VMC, and were really praying the wings wouldn't fold up.
Turns out we either hit a major gust front or microburst from the massive cell to the west. The plane was in the mx bay for a solid 2 weeks of repairs- crew chiefs found numerous sheared bolts and a crack in the wing box. The front had moved east faster than anyone forecasted, and apparently even the weather guys got hammered from above for the bad forecast since it almost nailed us. We were scared less the rest of the way home. Interestingly enough, two heavy carriers had just landed at that field just minutes prior to us starting our approach, and they didn't report a thing.
Takeaways- great call by the pilot flying to go-around early and not continue the approach. Continuing another 30 seconds could have cost us our lives. Watch for weather that's not conforming to the forecast, especially large storm fronts and possible leading edge hazardous conditions.
Our whole crew has a new respect for storms. Stay safe!
Preflight forecast: Heavy thunderstorms (the size of Virginia) about 100 miles west of destination, stationary, no forecast IFR or storms at destination. Entire mission at night.
We'll be making two stops within 2 hours of each other at this location, so our first stop will give us a chance to check things out. On our way in, we see the TS on radar about 70 miles west of the field- no biggie, VMC prevails. Land, get new load, takeoff for intermediate stop. On departure (30 minutes later) we notice TS now only 35-40 miles from the field...they're moving east, and ALOT faster than forecast. While on the ground at our gas stop, we go inside and get a weather brief for our second stop at destination. "Still should stay west, might see dust pickup and drop the vis a bit, but no convective or haz forecast." So we gas up and head back out. On our way in, thunderstorms are now 10 miles east of the field...alright, closer, but the field's VFR and we're not staying long. About 60 miles out our dest goes IFR for dust, but ceiling is still unlimited. We get lined up for the PAR and start in- our radar is clear of any storms. At 10 miles out, we can see the runway lights (so its practically VMC). The final controller advises us after glideslope capture that there is a "return" on his scope about 3 miles in front of us. We still don't see anything and acknowledge. About a mile from that point we see a dusty cloud layer below us...it looks like we'll pass over it at the 7 mile point, but as soon as we hit it, we immediately get moderate-sev turbulence and the winds rapidly start shifting. The plane is becoming harder and harder to control, and the turb is getting violent. After 10-15 seconds of abuse, we call go around and put the throttles to the wall...the plane just mushes around. Our airspeed is fluxing from 120-160, barely within gear overspeed limits and 50% flap stall speeds, and the plane refuses to climb. We're around 1500AGL, still VMC, in severe windshear. The plane mushes for another 15-20 seconds at 1500 before starting to climb (meanwhile, we're still holding on for life in the turbs). We turn southbound, report severe windshear/turb on final, and terminate the rest of the mission to head home. On our way out we ended up going through more severe turbulence in VMC, and were really praying the wings wouldn't fold up.
Turns out we either hit a major gust front or microburst from the massive cell to the west. The plane was in the mx bay for a solid 2 weeks of repairs- crew chiefs found numerous sheared bolts and a crack in the wing box. The front had moved east faster than anyone forecasted, and apparently even the weather guys got hammered from above for the bad forecast since it almost nailed us. We were scared less the rest of the way home. Interestingly enough, two heavy carriers had just landed at that field just minutes prior to us starting our approach, and they didn't report a thing.
Takeaways- great call by the pilot flying to go-around early and not continue the approach. Continuing another 30 seconds could have cost us our lives. Watch for weather that's not conforming to the forecast, especially large storm fronts and possible leading edge hazardous conditions.
Our whole crew has a new respect for storms. Stay safe!
