Itunis
04-05-2009, 08:13 PM
This past July I took a trip to South Florida to visit some family and to enjoy the beach. Everything went great until it came time to go back home. I had checked the weather before I left for the airport, and saw thunderstorms in the forecast. Nothing too unusual for the Southeast in July.
After a two hour delay for unknown reasons, we taxied out onto the runway in our Spirit A319. Takeoff and climb were pretty uneventful, as we had left just before the routine afternoon thunderstorms occurred. For the next 45 minutes or so, I couldn't even tell we were moving it was so smooth. I was almost disappointed-the occasional bump or dip is what makes flying fun.
As we approached Atlanta, however, I began to regret not being careful for what I'd wished for. We threaded through towering thunderstorms that rose well past our 35,000 foot altitude. Even in clear air, currents of air accompanying these storms shook and rattled our aircraft. I'd say we were experiencing light chop; it was mostly quick jolts that made a lot of noise but not much in the way of altitude change.
When the pilot checked in near the airport, he gave us some bad news. Hartsfield was shut down due to a severe thunderstorm moving over the area. We along with a few dozen other flights would have to circle until the storm passed. More importantly, the pilot added that we would be passing through some "rough" weather. We weren't able to go around all of the storms due to other traffic, so the pilot had to pick a weaker cloud to go through and hope for the best.
This is where the fun begins. As we entered the thundercloud, it seemed as if we had gone from 3 pm to 3 am-it was the darkest I have ever seen in a cloud. A flight attendant banged on a bathroom door, ordering the man inside to get back to his seat immediately. As they attendants were buckling up, the crap really hit the fan. Up, down, left, right the plane flew. I could see the fuselage flexing from my seat near the back. Half of the plane screamed, the other half praying too hard to talk. Finally we emerged out the other side, having added stains of all kinds to the cabin. Even our pilot seemed shaken, as he went out of his way to take a route around any more storms. I know that passengers overrate turbulence, but seeing soda stains on the ceiling along with visibly scared crew members makes me believe that this turbulence was on the higher end of moderate, almost on the border of severe.
The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful, with light turbulence down to our landing in ATL after holding for about an hour.
After a two hour delay for unknown reasons, we taxied out onto the runway in our Spirit A319. Takeoff and climb were pretty uneventful, as we had left just before the routine afternoon thunderstorms occurred. For the next 45 minutes or so, I couldn't even tell we were moving it was so smooth. I was almost disappointed-the occasional bump or dip is what makes flying fun.
As we approached Atlanta, however, I began to regret not being careful for what I'd wished for. We threaded through towering thunderstorms that rose well past our 35,000 foot altitude. Even in clear air, currents of air accompanying these storms shook and rattled our aircraft. I'd say we were experiencing light chop; it was mostly quick jolts that made a lot of noise but not much in the way of altitude change.
When the pilot checked in near the airport, he gave us some bad news. Hartsfield was shut down due to a severe thunderstorm moving over the area. We along with a few dozen other flights would have to circle until the storm passed. More importantly, the pilot added that we would be passing through some "rough" weather. We weren't able to go around all of the storms due to other traffic, so the pilot had to pick a weaker cloud to go through and hope for the best.
This is where the fun begins. As we entered the thundercloud, it seemed as if we had gone from 3 pm to 3 am-it was the darkest I have ever seen in a cloud. A flight attendant banged on a bathroom door, ordering the man inside to get back to his seat immediately. As they attendants were buckling up, the crap really hit the fan. Up, down, left, right the plane flew. I could see the fuselage flexing from my seat near the back. Half of the plane screamed, the other half praying too hard to talk. Finally we emerged out the other side, having added stains of all kinds to the cabin. Even our pilot seemed shaken, as he went out of his way to take a route around any more storms. I know that passengers overrate turbulence, but seeing soda stains on the ceiling along with visibly scared crew members makes me believe that this turbulence was on the higher end of moderate, almost on the border of severe.
The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful, with light turbulence down to our landing in ATL after holding for about an hour.