"Dudley Henriques" wrote in
:


"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
. 130...
"Dudley Henriques" wrote in
:


wrote in message
ps.com...
On May 5, 5:10 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
Aircraft normally wait for thunderstorms to pass before taking
off. No aircraft is safe in a thunderstorm.

So most likely the Kenya Airways flight didn't follow procedure or
receive clearance?

Hard to say not knowing the exact situation, but in my opinion, only
a pilot with a death wish accepts a takeoff clearance in the middle
of a thunderstorm.

It doesn't neceesarily follow that he took off in the middle of a
CB...

I agree. To do that would have been against all my sense of logic
anyway. Stranger things have happened, and pilots do indeed from time
to time push weather for one reason or another but I'd hate to second
guess this poor guy at this point. It's been my experience that what
appears almost certain immediately after these things seldom carries
through the investigation.

Precisely. I've flown in that part of the world quite a lot and the CBs
have to be seen to be believed. I've been at 310 and had the tops
further away than the bottoms as often as not. The size of them is also
astonishing and seeing into a large, tight group of cells is next to
impossible, even with the best radar. It's hard work but it has to be
done or you're on the ground for the best part of six months there.

Bertie