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bologna
03-24-2009, 10:33 PM
The Saturday before last, I flew down to Tampa expecting a bumpy ride almost the whole way. As the weather forecasts had called for, there was rain stretching all the way from BNA down past the Florida border (and high rain at that, as the "Radar Echo Tops" map showed that most of it topped out between 30,000 and 40,000 feet, with isolated areas topping out even higher). Naturally, I worried. However, no announcement was made warning of any turbulence before takeoff, which I took to be a good sign. After taking off into rainy skies, we briefly had very light turbulence on climb-out. To my surprise, when we leveled off at 35,000 feet or so (but still in the clouds), there was little to no turbulence! We stayed in the clouds for 20 minutes or so at cruising altitude, only encountering light turbulence once or twice. We eventually popped out of the clouds and the flight was glass smooth for the rest of the flight. I have to say that this really reassured me that even in unfavorable weather conditions, nice rides are still possible!
Smooth Sailing
03-26-2009, 08:27 AM
I had a similar experience a few months back flying IAD-IND. Nasty, twisting jet stream over Ohio with 140 mph winds. Pilot warned of a turbulent ride pre-takeoff and specifically mentioned a change in wind direction within the route we'd be flying.

Was a completely smooth flight.
pinworm
03-27-2009, 12:26 PM
Well it just goes to show how the maps and reports are not always accurate! I hope I have the same luck tonight flying MCI-PHX..through the big blizzard in a crj 900. High level calls for a pretty smooth ride..but the crj doesn't go that high. Low is bad.
bologna
03-27-2009, 11:12 PM
Well it just goes to show how the maps and reports are not always accurate! I hope I have the same luck tonight flying MCI-PHX..through the big blizzard in a crj 900. High level calls for a pretty smooth ride..but the crj doesn't go that high. Low is bad.

Don't be deceived by the size of the plane! CRJs can actually climb to the altitude of almost any other commercial aircraft. They're also actually faster than a lot of larger jets!