Severe (or more) turbulence... how common?

Well, I was about to start descending, and it was quite handy to lose
2000', but I certainly wasn't planning to lose it THAT quickly!
In any case I reported it as severe turbulence at the time.

I forgot to mention that I had a 25kt tailwind - nothing remarkable -
at 9500'. It sped up to 40kt or so over the ridge, I was briefly
showing ground speed over 200kt.

John

"Teacherjh" wrote in message
...

But for sure
I lost 2000' (I couldn't believe it when I looked at the altimeter after
recovering the plane...

[...]

I don't know whether this was "severe turbulence" according to
the definition. [...] I did keep the plane under
control - my main concern being to avoid hitting Vne.


Unless you intended to lose 2000 feet, I'd say the plane was not under
control.
The wings may have been level, but two thousand uncommanded feet of
altitude
loss qualifies to me as severe turbulence. And whether it was smooth or
not is
irrelevant - bumpy air is "chop", altitude deviations are "turbulence".
Sort
of.

Jose

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