Types of tubulence

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Brian Z

Well-Known Member
I BSing with a few instructors the other day and we got to talking about one of the reasons a student of his was busted on his CFI ride. The question was how many and what types of turbulence are there. I do not know the answer the candidate gave, but what the examiner was looking for perplexed us. He said there were three types; weather, mechenical and pilot induced. I get weather and mechenical, but pilot induced turbulence:confused:. Anyone have any insite?
 
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Brian Z

Well-Known Member
Ok, but that the examiner wrote that on a list of things the candidate needed to know before reexamination. Granted it was not an official document, but rather the notes that were taken during the oral. Seems an odd place to put a joke.
 
tgrayson

tgrayson

New Member
Brian Z said:
Seems an odd place to put a joke.
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If that's what he wrote, then I'd have to say that the examiner was simply mistaken. Perhaps he knew there was another type of turbulence and that just popped into his mind. I'd be surprised whether the FAA would list that under "turbulence" in its publications. I just checked Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, the AIM, and Aviation Weather and found no reference to it.

I noted he didn't mention "Wake Turbulence", so perhaps that's what he was thinking of.
 
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imasaluki

New Member
Brian Z said:
I BSing with a few instructors the other day and we got to talking about one of the reasons a student of his was busted on his CFI ride. The question was how many and what types of turbulence are there. I do not know the answer the candidate gave, but what the examiner was looking for perplexed us. He said there were three types; weather, mechenical and pilot induced. I get weather and mechenical, but pilot induced turbulence:confused:. Anyone have any insite?
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I can think of three but I would have never thought of mechanical or pilot induced! Convective turbulence, mountain wave/induced turbulence, and wake turbulence would be my three.

I googled Mechanical and I guess that's what I would call Mountain Wave turbulence... could be any surface structure really, I guess, though.
 
ppragman

ppragman

FLIPY FLAPS!
imasaluki said:
I can think of three but I would have never thought of mechanical or pilot induced! Convective turbulence, mountain wave/induced turbulence, and wake turbulence would be my three.

I googled Mechanical and I guess that's what I would call Mountain Wave turbulence... could be any surface structure really, I guess, though.
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Mountain wave turbulence is actually caused by air being accelerated over or through the mountains, creating bumps, whereas mechanical turbulence comes from friction with any ground or object on the ground. It can be seen on short final if landing long and you was a group of hangars that are up wind of you, you'll be able to feel bumps where the air is swirling over the roofs of the hangars.
 
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imasaluki

New Member
ppragman said:
Mountain wave turbulence is actually caused by air being accelerated over or through the mountains, creating bumps, whereas mechanical turbulence comes from friction with any ground or object on the ground. It can be seen on short final if landing long and you was a group of hangars that are up wind of you, you'll be able to feel bumps where the air is swirling over the roofs of the hangars.
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Got it. So, now we have four types of turbulence. Convective, Mechanical, Mountain Induced, and Wake.
 
JDMcFly

JDMcFly

New Member
I guess you could make a long shot and say wake turbulence is pilot induced turbulence? :bandit:
 
Ray Finkle

Ray Finkle

New Member
IMHO- Get a new examiner. If he is seriously expecting that pilot induced drag be an "official" answer, find someone else. While we can all come up with additional tidbits of knowledge, you can't test someone outside the PTS. I know, we can all debate what and how lift is generated, there are personal opinions and there is what the FAA says. Now, I would never say the FAA is the all-knowing lords of fact, but we are to be tested against what they deem is true. After that, you can form many intelligent, educated opinions on things. There's more than one way to skin a cat, if you will.

I would really find a different examiner. That's rather lame to use/include as a reason to fail him.
 
Ray Finkle

Ray Finkle

New Member
sdfcvoh said:
Ditto that! Why is it that we read stuff like this all too often? Is it (possibly) that there are always two sides to a story?
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The thing is DPEs can not test to anything other than FAA standards and info. That doesn't mean there aren't better explanations or maybe different ways of doing things. Ive seen this happen when an Engineer and a pilot discuss lift. The FAA is in no way always right, I think we all know that by now. Ive heard better explanations of areas of flight than what the FAA says is so. But until they change that, and the PTS, we have to stick to that. I do talk to my students about other theories of flight or better, more complete answers. But I make sure they understand what the FAA wants.

A DPE bringing in his/her own ideas and theories is not proper and not allowed. It doesn't mean they are necessarily wrong, they just aren't allowed to make up their own answers, it violates the PTS.
 
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