Best Storm Stories

This is , after all, forum for glider stories

As I have not yet seen a glider story in this thread, here are annecdotes
from a WGC.

WGC Vrsac 1972.
After the first day, the one decent soaring day, the airmass turned humid
and cloud flying was
the only way to make progress; a few pilots had oxygen and everyone had at
least a T and S; I was
really glad I had borrowed an AH since many hours were spent in cloud.
Base was rarely above 2500 ft.

AHungarian pilot wsa killed after losing control in a Cb; there was
collision and lots of hail damge, holes
sometimes as big as your fist.
Nick Goodhart went to 30k ft in his Kestrel jut after the start, and flew
the course and won the day
in a straight glide; likewise on the penultimate day, which most people
spent between 1000 and 3000 ft AGL,
Witanen waited til a Cb brewed up near the start , long after everyone
else had left, climbed
high enough to complete the 200km course in one glide, the only one to
finish.

The last day was perhaps the stormiest, cloudb base 2000ft andv virually no
lift below it. It was dark under the
extensive canopy of Cb blowoff. Many pilots simply abandoned the task (a
200 km Triangle)
After the start I ws able to climb to 12 k ft and head out on a compass
course in cloud. I asked my crew chief
to do DR based on zero wind and a 60 kt cruise; after some time I got a
glimpse of the ground down a hole and
saw a railway line which was right on the c course line; then I was in
cloud again for 15mins and emerged from
the side of a Cu at 3000ft 10km from TP 1, an airfield; there were a lot
of gliders down there already, and after
turning the mark and looking along the second leg into into a black wall
illuminated with lightning flashes,
I decided this was enough , threw awqy 2000 ft and landed, thankfull to be
alive and undamaged
after ten testing days. Several others followed me ! George MOffat was
there too, we hugged ech other to celebrate
survival.

John Firth, an old, no longer bold pilot.


At 23:32 09 February 2015, Bill D wrote:
On Monday, February 9, 2015 at 3:53:17 PM UTC-7, Bob T wrote:
On Monday, February 9, 2015 at 11:42:24 AM UTC-7, Bill D wrote:
On Monday, February 9, 2015 at 10:21:03 AM UTC-7, JJ Sinclair wrote:
With storms pounding both coasts, I thought it would be fun to tell
o=
ut best (worst) storm story. I'll kick it off with my favorite. 1950's,
ol=
d JJ was a boom operator on a tanker crew and we were on a refueling
missio=
n over Colorado. There was a big thunderstorm between us and the
rendezvous=
point. The newly formed USAF was not to be stopped by any weather,
latter
=
on LeMay decreed that "No peacetime mission required penetrating a
thunders=
torm", but in 1953 we charged right on in! The cloud turned a pale green,
e=
xcept when lightning struck, then everything turned red! Vertical gusts
wer=
e unreal, everyone tightened up their straps and hung on. As the props
de-i=
ced, some of it would hit the fuselage and it was like being inside a
drum
=
with someone beating on it with a bat! After about 5 minutes of this, the
A=
C screamed; Navigator, should we keep going or turn around? In a calm
voice=
, the Navigator replied, I don't know, sir, the hail just knocked out my
ra=
dar!
I believe the Navigator was the only one on the crew that wasn't
scar=
ed ****less!=20
We finally flew out the other side and then made a precautionary
land=
ing at Denver. I can still see the big hole in the ray dome and a good 10
i=
nches of ice built up on the little stub antennas.
OK, Who's next?
JJ
=20
Back in the early 1960's I was working with Paul MacCready's company
Me=
teorology Research. Inc on a cloud seeding project near Flagstaff, AZ.
Thi=
s involved flying light airplanes such as C-180's and Twin Commanders
into
=
CB's to dump silver iodide and dry ice pellets and then to collect things
l=
ike cloud particles and measure electric fields.
=20
One of the big concerns was that our cloud seeding might
inadvertently
=
generate a big hailstorm doing immense damage to the surrounding area.
Pau=
l was particularly concerned about that.
=20
Being a young idiot among a few similar inclined young geeks, we hit
up=
on a practical joke. We had a large freezer where we kept hailstones
found=
after storms. We also had some chemically pure H2O. The idea was to
supe=
r-cool the H2O and then repeatedly dip the end of a string into it
forming
=
an ice-ball much as one makes a candle. Once the ice-ball reached a
suffic=
iently terrifying size - about 8" dia. - we used the shop band saw to cut
i=
t in half revealing very hail-stone like layers. We then showed this to
Pa=
ul and his fellow scientists at the 'appropriate' time. When we saw the
re=
action was getting totally out of hand, we were forced to reveal our
subter=
fuge. I don't think some ever forgave us.
=20
I was a grad student at NAU in Flagstaff at the time. We never saw any
h=
uge hail, but one day after the seeding we did get hail piled 6" - 8"
deep=
all around the place. If I remember it was Vince Schaefer who had a big
h=
and in the experiments.

Schaefer was involved. IIRC he was the first to demonstrate that cloud
see=
ding might be possible.

On Monday, February 9, 2015 at 5:30:06 PM UTC-7, firsys wrote:
This is , after all, forum for glider stories

As I have not yet seen a glider story in this thread

Dr. Paul MacCready might be a 'slight' connection to gliding.

After the 1975 open class nationals in Hobbs, (which was know for being one of the wettest seasons in history) my father let me fly the family Kestral back home with another friend in his father's Nimbus II. We took off from Estrella, headed west for as far as we could get into California. A huge dust storm was rapidly approaching at Desert Center so my friends dad insisted we land immediately. We back tracked and landed as our crew parents were waiting for us on the ground at Desert Center. I rolled up to the trailer and the Kestrel being the big Libelle that it was, was in the box inside of 5 minutes. The Nimbus, with the extra wing pieces, wasn't so quick. We got the tips off, the tail, and the canopy just as the duststorm hit. Since we couldn't get the center panels of the wings off in time, we pulled the campers and trailers in front of the Nimbus to block the wind and six of us laid on the wing of the glider for 45 minutes as we literally got sand blasted. I'm not sure how strong the wind was but we were concerned that the campers and trailers could blow over on top of us.

After the storm had passed, there was two inches of dust inside our camper despite having all the windows and vents closed. It came in thru the little vents in the bottom of the sliding glass windows. We had to have the glass replaced on the camper because it was so badly pitted. I'm told there are still remnants of dust from that storm in the fuselage of that Nimbus, forty years later.

Barry

On Monday, February 9, 2015 at 12:21:03 PM UTC-5, JJ Sinclair wrote:
With storms pounding both coasts, I thought it would be fun to tell out best (worst) storm story. I'll kick it off with my favorite. 1950's, old JJ was a boom operator on a tanker crew and we were on a refueling mission over Colorado. There was a big thunderstorm between us and the rendezvous point. The newly formed USAF was not to be stopped by any weather, latter on LeMay decreed that "No peacetime mission required penetrating a thunderstorm", but in 1953 we charged right on in! The cloud turned a pale green, except when lightning struck, then everything turned red! Vertical gusts were unreal, everyone tightened up their straps and hung on. As the props de-iced, some of it would hit the fuselage and it was like being inside a drum with someone beating on it with a bat! After about 5 minutes of this, the AC screamed; Navigator, should we keep going or turn around? In a calm voice, the Navigator replied, I don't know, sir, the hail just knocked out my radar!
I believe the Navigator was the only one on the crew that wasn't scared ****less!
We finally flew out the other side and then made a precautionary landing at Denver. I can still see the big hole in the ray dome and a good 10 inches of ice built up on the little stub antennas.
OK, Who's next?
JJ

I think JJ wins with thread killer story.
I'll tell my story of bad judgement anyway.
Last day of Std Nats at Mifflin in 1993. We're on an AT coming back from the south and it is pretty dark under big cloud.
About 20 out a bunch of us punch under the edge of a big black line that is across the course line. There were 3 ridge sets to cross to get home.
I got a very strong climb well up toward cloud base and moved forward to try to find a way through the storm.
Lightning from 10:00 to 2:00.
There's a gap slightly clearer that looks like a way through. Lightning just struck there so it "should be OK for a short while".
TB called Carol and said he didn't think he'd find a way through and hook up.
Bong! Visions of a gold medal sprang into my head(I'm in 3rd, a couple hundred points back)and the dreaded red mist took over.
I climbed as high as I dared and punched ahead trying to get over a triple ridge to the next safe valley.
Sink was off the clock and I could visually see that, from 4000 feet or so that I would not make the valley. My glide angle was maybe 8 to 1.
It was going to be terrible going back and landing in the storm so I gave myself 3 more seconds to see if it got less bad.
The sink dropped off to about 8 knots down and I could see that I would make the valley ahead by a bit, so I pressed on.
I cleared the hills and, at about 1500 found 12 knots back to cloud base in more benign conditions.
From there it was an easy safe glide home to be the first(maybe only?) one back.
SM, who HATES lightning, went left to end run the storm. He ended up stuck low and had a low forming cloud and rain cut off his visual to his field as he was in the pattern. He flew his final visual to the pond at the end of the field and managed to land safely. He said he used up 3 or 4 of his lives with that one.
So class, what was the end result?
TB found a way through and got back a good while after I did and still won the contest.
I took a huge risk, learned a great deal about how I could be tempted, got 3rd anyway, big deal, and resolved NEVER to succumb to such a temptation again.
UH

Bruce Laxalt told me about getting caught under a big towering cumulus. He kept flying faster and faster, but the lift was too strong and just before he went IFR, he pulled the spoilers out! The wings of his ASW-20B bowed like a banana, but stayed on and he didn't go into the clouds. Once clear of the cloud, he tried to close his spoilers, but they wouldn't close! The spoilers had bent back because he deployed them above maneuvering speed. Luckily, Lee Vining Airport was very close and he landed without incident.

Another friend was doing the same thing, but he did get sucked into the CB. He turned loose of the controls and prayed! After about 5 minutes, he flew out the side of the cloud, but the ship didn't feel right. An inch of ice had formed on the wings. The ice not only added considerable weight, but it destroyed the airfoil and he was dropping like a smooth stone! It looked like he was going to land in the sagebrush, but the warmer temperature at lower altitude allowed the ice to melt off and he made it to Hawthorne Airport.

I was flying a Cessna 340 out of North Las Vegas during a winter storm, filed IFR for San Diego (KSEE). The controllers were very busy and I was given an initial altitude that put me 1,500 into the clouds. I noticed my weather radar (older black and white one) was painting all white ahead (big cell with lots of moisture). I kept trying to call control for a heading change, but they would not respond. I just knew the cell would be full of ice, hail, and hell so I repeatedly to pushed the ident button on my transponder and started to turn away from the cell. Soon control came on and said, "62C I see you are turning away from that level 4 cell", I thought yeah, thanks for the help and obviously you were going to let my flying into that!. I immediately asked for 2,000 ft lower and told them If I could get that I would cancel IFR, request immediately granted.

I have, a weather story, not really a storm story. Glider pilots really are the best (next to helicopter pilots ! I was flying a Cessna 340 out of South Tahoe. Was awoken early on a Sunday morning by the sounds of aircraft taking off. Usually I could not hear the airport but it was early and almost no background noise. I wondered why so many were leaving early on a spring Sunday morning. Checked weather and found an air mass was moving from east to west across the Sierras setting up wave and a rotor close to the South Lake airport. Decided it was time to load the dogs and wife and get an early start for home. Take off direction was east (toward the mountains). While listening to the radio, it was obvious many of these pilots should not be flying in the mountains, or even flying). I heard one "pilot" screaming on the radio his auto-pilot would not stay on because it was too rough. Many would take off and wanted to fly toward the mountains until they got to 1,000 ft before turning downwind (not a good idea if you are flying into rotor or the down part of the wave). As we are taught flying gliders, have a plan before you depart. I had planned to get as much speed as possible, suck the gear up as soon as I had a positive rate and as soon as the rate of climb started to diminish, turn down wind (at any altitude). Plan worked great. Usually in a 340 as soon as you leave the ground you turn on the yaw damper, it was so rough I made two attempts, could not get my finger on the toggle, so I went back to flying. My climb rate started to deminish when I had about 300 ft, turned downwind, over the lake I hit the up part of the wave, turned parallel to the mountains, climbed in the laminar air to 17,500 while thanking my glider instructors. Had a beautiful flight home, little rough on the take off and initial turn downwind, but really uneventful. I think, all power pilots should be required to take mountain flying classes and spin training. Nothing beats real world training! The other lesson Learned early in my flight training. I want to learn from the guy with grey hair, not a young guy. Experience, beats youth.

Best storm story:
The forecast was terrible and when I got to the gliderport it really looked bad so I went home.

On Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 1:58:46 PM UTC-8, Tom (2NO) wrote:
Best storm story:
The forecast was terrible and when I got to the gliderport it really looked bad so I went home.

Actually, one year I had much time to go gliding and I made it a point to launch whatever the weather. I learned a lot about flying. I even had one rainy day with lots of lift (not sure how that happened) and enough rain to be running through the rotor side wall vent. Had another great flight were I rode the front of a T-Storm for 150 miles. We fly on the power of weather, not all "bad" weather is bad.

OK...

Enjoying the smooth lift under the leading edge of a thunderstorm along
the ramparts of the Rockies until the static of lightening came across
the radio. I decided that sitting in the center of a carbon lightning
rod was not the best place to be so I headed back to Black Forest.
While enroute, I saw the dust front from the downburst which had begun
so I sped up to get home before the storm.

Too high and fast, I overflew the airport and turned back for a right
base entry but the gust was upon the airport. I kept speeding up until
reaching the top of the white arc (84 KIAS, IIRC for the LS-6a), maximum
airspeed with gear and flaps extended. My ground speed was extremely
low but I had no GPS to get an exact number and, due to the high wind, I
elected to land across the 36 foot wide runway. I touched down on the
runway, crossed it, the grass, the gravel taxiway, the grass, and rolled
to a stop 10 feet outside the gaping hangar door where a dozen or so
members were standing out of the rain and watching.

I flew the glider on the ground until the wind and rain let up and got
out to get help moving the ship into the hangar to wait for the storm to
end. Someone said that he didn't think I'd make it to the airport
because I was flying so slowly on base. Eighty-four knots! Yup, slow...

On 3/9/2015 8:40 PM, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
On Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 1:58:46 PM UTC-8, Tom (2NO) wrote:
Best storm story:
The forecast was terrible and when I got to the gliderport it really looked bad so I went home.
Actually, one year I had much time to go gliding and I made it a point to launch whatever the weather. I learned a lot about flying. I even had one rainy day with lots of lift (not sure how that happened) and enough rain to be running through the rotor side wall vent. Had another great flight were I rode the front of a T-Storm for 150 miles. We fly on the power of weather, not all "bad" weather is bad.

--
Dan Marotta