"Marco Rispoli" wrote in message
et...
[...]
If I am clear air (VFR), and I am not close to mountains (so I don't have
to
worry about mountain waves), and I am flying around in my little cutie
Piper
Cherokee 180 do I even need to worry about turbulence?

I guess you have to define "worry".

If the air is bumpy, it always potentially could exceed the design limits of
the airplane. For that matter, you could be flying along in completely
smooth air and experience sudden and severe turbulence.

In that respect, you should *always* worry about turbulence. It's always
potentially there, and always potentially greater than the limits of the
airplane.

However, as others have mentioned, pilots, especially relatively
inexperienced ones, typically overestimate the strength of turbulence. It's
probably true that general bumpiness out in the open, away from severe
weather (includes strong winds) and terrain is probably going to be safe at
any normal cruise airspeed.

That said, "away from" is an ambiguous term. Terrain can still be quite far
away and still cause strong turbulence (50-100 miles or more in some cases).
Similarly, strong winds can seem trouble-free for long distances, but due to
wind shear result in very significant, isolated clear-air turbulence as you
fly through an area where there's another fast-moving air mass going a
different direction.

I am just about done reading Rod Machado's IFR book and the bottom line is
that you need to be inside a thunderstorm in order to start worrying about
turbulence. In most conditions, just flying around VFR in your everyday
CAT
(Clear Air Turbulence) doesn't warrant fussing about it, and all you
really
have to do is just stay in the green arc. That's all.

According to what the book is saying, only older planes really need to
worry
about Va in moderate turbulence. Modern planes (certified after 69) can
fly
right through it, as long as you stay in the green arc.

I haven't read Machado's book, so I don't know what he says and what he
doesn't. I would disagree that there's never any turbulence outside of a
thunderstorm that you need to worry about, or that there's never any
moderate turbulence in which newer planes might have a concern. Those kinds
of absolutes seem troublesome to me.

I don't plan to fly into thunderstorms any time soon ... so, do I even
need
to worry about manouvering speed if I am just flying in one of those gusty
fall or spring Northeast VFR days?

I would say that it's true that most of the time. Just make sure you are
paying attention to winds aloft forecasts, especially comparing wind speed
and direction changes over the various altitudes. Strong winds, or
significant shear, can result in significant turbulence.

I guess to me the thing to keep in mind is that continuous turbulence is
unlikely to be the real issue. If you can stand the turbulence, the
airplane can. Regardless of when it was built. The problem is that you
could be flying along, tolerating the turbulence, and then run into
something more significant.

As Mike says, slowing down to match your comfort level is always a good
thing. There's nothing worse than an anxious pilot. Even if you know the
airplane can handle the turbulence, you need to be at ease. Even an older
airplane is likely to be able to handle stronger turbulence than you feel
comfortable with.

The real question is whether you are potentially going to hit some strong
turbulence without any warning. For this, the turbulence you're feeling now
is less important than things like current and forecast weather and pilot
reports.

Bottom line: it's true that most pilots rarely, if ever, experience
turbulence strong enough for Va to be a real issue. But it can happen, and
usually it happens without warning. Furthermore, for both pilot and
passenger comfort, it's helpful to slow down in turbulence, even if the
airplane is in no danger of being hurt. As with all aviation decision
making, being conservative is a fine thing with respect to flying at or
below Va.

For what it's worth, I think the chances of the wings falling off are the
least of one's worries. More of an issue are all the other parts in the
airplane that are important to a successful flight. It would still require
some heavy turbulence to cause a problem, and I don't think this difference
should mean that pilots should be braver in the face of turbulence. It's
just an interesting academic aspect to the issue, IMHO.

Pete