Worst turbulence experienced

[JohnE]

we're all gonna die? obviously she didnt pay attention during her training , about how to keep control during turbulence. if i had yelled out that phrase, i would have been written up by our purser !!! turbulence, that is routine turbulence doesnt bother me, they go along with flying, and being an FA.

BUT!!!!! and this is a big but, CAT definitely can be intimidating! lol!

hit severe turbulence going from LAX to HNL, over the pacific. we were serving refreshments and lunch when they hit. fortunately none of us were seriously hurt, but i had a huge bruise on my knee cap from hitting the trolley
with it. talk about PAIN!!! but it healed nicely and i was back at work in no time. also flying over the grand canyon about a year ago, hit some nasties, and one of the pax had a mild heart attack. he survived, thank God.

all in all turbulence are just something we who fly have to live with when we are working.

Here are some links to the news story: Virigin Atlantic flight from London to Las Vegas...

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,102819,00.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/28/ustewardess.xml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4759300.stm

Maybe she should carry a parachute with her in her suitcase. Just in case.

 

[avbug]

I rode into SJC as a passenger on XXX a few days ago, and then into BUR. I slept through most of it, but apparently it was rough enough that passengers deplaned and didn't complete the trip. When we got to BUR, passengers seated nearby were talking about it, one was sick, and a few were missing (got off). I tried to stay awake, but there's something about sitting in back that knocks me out like a light every time.

We cracked both wings on one airplane, and our sister aircraft in trail had a flight engineer ejected into the cargo bay on a different drop. I cracked a canopy with my helmet in turbulence once. And got hit hard enough recently that I really thought the wing was coming off. Very, very violent. When you can't read the instruments any more and your vision outside the cockpit is blurred, it's violent. That happens every year, throughout the summer.

Get a few feet from a canyon wall or mountainside in 40+ knot winds and it gets rough. Do it in an aircraft that's already a little on the unstable side, and it gets to be an adventure.

The worst turbulence I've ever encountered was SE of ABQ in a C-130. We made a low downwind run on the lee side of a mountain with a fairly strong wind, and it was violent, and unpleasant. It was on that run that the airpalne behind us lost the flight engineer. The captain in that airplane called for power (which was brought up by the FE, on that run), and nothing happened. He glanced down at the power levers and noted that the FE's hands were gone, and applied the power himself. He then noted that the FE was also gone.

In that operation, the pilots are often busy enough that the FE sets the power, and to do so, he needs to set far forward on his seat and lean across the console to the power levers. In the turbulence, he came out of his seat, hit the overhead planel, and landed behind his seat on the flight deck floor. He then went up, just missed the open overhead hatch, hit the cockpit ceiling by the hatch,and on the way down, missed the flight deck. He hit the stairs down into the cargo bay, and when he hit the cargo bay floor, he wrapped up against the first sling seat post he found, and held on.

I shared a room with him that night, and he looked like he'd been in a bad bar fight. He was pretty sore.

I got my butt kicked on the Dynamite fire two years ago and ended up with retardant all over the top of the airplane. Any time that happens, you either really screwed up, or it was extremely violent. I didn't screw up.

 

[Lostdog65]

Avbug...

Is that when the retardant drops up instead of down??? That's the time to head back to base, eat your cold burger and wait for the air attack to call you back up 30 minutes later saying "it ain't that bad now"!

Eric

 

[avbug]

I came back off a day off and found the airplane dirty (relief crew) with retardant on top, and nobody could explain it to me. I went out on the same fire that day and found out why it got there. Holy cow.

It's one of the few times when they've said "Load and Return," that I've said "NO!"

I got it recently when retardant exited the tank forward out of a SEAT and came back up over the wing from the prop...didn't know that could happen, either. The airplane started shaking really violently and then this cloud of red blew up from in front of the wing and coated the canopy and top of the wings. A series of loud bangs, and I could swear I saw the wing moving. I thought it was separating.

Without the details, someone really familiar with the type seemed to know exactly what I was talking about when I got back to the base. His comment was "at least you'll know next time," and my comment was "there won't be a next time. I'm never going there again."

You might know who it was, but I came off a drop on a fire a few years ago, and a lead was inbound. He asked my assessment of the drop and fire, and I said don't go in there, I think we need to hold off on the airshow for now. He dismissed my comment and said he'd see for himself. He made a pass on my drop, and then came right back to say cancel the airshow. He said he'd just broken his headset when he hit the top of the cockpit. I didn't know that was possible, either, but I gathered it was a DC headset that he broke, and that's not easy.

A few years ago on a different drop, I got complacent because I got in a place where despite having been kicked around all the way to the fire and flying around the fire, I was descending on a fairly smooth groove. The airplane had a beautiful approach to the drop, which was to occur on top of a ridge in a saddle notch, and was to serve as the anchor point for a P-3 that was a few minutes out. A much higher ridge was behind the one I was approaching at a nearly perpendicular angle, with a narrow deep canyon between the two. My intent was to drop in the notch and make a steep right turn to exit.

I planned the descent with the idea that w(h)eather the load went or not, and w(h)eather I got down air or not (lee side of the ride, into the ride, toward the wind, descending rotor air), I would have a good exit. It was going really well until I was close to the target. The bottom fell out. I get slammed hard. I started descending very rapidly, and I saw the ridgeline start rising in the sight picture. With the sudden change I knew I wasn't going to clear the ridge and I began taking stabs at the trigger. I wasn't able to unload it all at once or get a steady pull on the trigger, and I went just over the ridge and got forced down inside the canyon between it and the following mountainside. I rolled a very steep right and exited about 1,200 or 1,400 down inside that canyon. My helmet got slapped off everything in sight, and the retardant ended up down inside the canyon.

The ATGS missed the drop and asked where I went, and then couldn't see the retardant. When I first got forced down I had a taste of what was coming, but it was too late. I had been complacent and planned the drop on the performance I had approaching it, and didn't count on the rotor or the turbulence. The P-3 came on scene, and they assigned him a perpendicular run to tie into where my drop *should* have gone. He asked my assessment, and when I told him, he said he wasn't sure he wanted to do the drop. I was given a return and hold (duh) and he caught up with me a few minutes later. He said I was right, he had jettisoned, and was heading back as quick as he could, too.

When I got back to base, after a long round out of the way route to avoid rapidly building tstorms, I took seven attempts at landing due to crosswinds, and very nearly couldn't move on the runway because I couldn't carry enough power to turn against the wind, and keep the tail down. It was really rough, I couldn't get out of the cockpit both because of the wind and because I couldn't bend my legs. They tied the airplane down with inside...and the worst part was that when the rain hit, the cockpit leaked.

 

[Lostdog65]

On the Picture fire a few years ago outside of Mesa, air attack was all gung ho on getting the retardant down on the east flank. We had a bunch of SEATS and they were being tossed around like a leaf on the wind. Had The French Connection and Phil making drops. Got a little bumpy and the retardant wasn't going where it needed to. (Read...anywhere but down!) I called the airshow when the SEAT that showed up nearly tumbled on the base turn. I told him to punch it and go home...he agreed and beat feet to Payson.

Got back to Mesa and was on the ground for no more than 5 minutes...still in my Nomex...when air attack calls and asks if we can come back. I'd told him earlier when the wind dies down we'll come back. Phil and Jerome heard the call and both shook their heads and said, "Not today boys, not today." Danny gave a gold star on my training record for calling the show, listening to the LAT captains and telling the ATGS where he could stick it!

Wasn't any fun in the Baron either. Got to see Danny's breakfast...twice!

Eric

 

[avbug]

I'm all for calling the show...remember a few years ago after GN was killed in an S-2? At RNO, pilot after pilot stood in a large meeting to say that they knew it was bad, and kept waiting for someone else to call an end to it. Nobody did...including a lead that got rolled over the fire, and then Gary got killed.

There has to be a point when someone says enough. Kudos for making the choice.

It's like the man says...it's only grass and trees.

 

[mcjohn]

Just kind of blew my mind with all that. I can't think of any flying that would be as dangerous.

 

[Lostdog65]

mcjohn...

Yeah...it seems dangerous but of all the flying I've ever done, that was the most fun. Every time we flew, we had to basically do hazard analysis on every run. Everything was mitigated. Most of the stories about people crashing came from the "old days" when a lot of tanker drivers and leads were cowboys. The group of LAT pilots and Leads flying now are a very professional bunch of guys and gals. Yes...accidents do happen and you have to have your sh!t together at 200 agl and 140kt. But I'll tell ya...and avbug would probably agree...it's great flying.

Unfortunately, like in many high risk endeavours, it takes someone dying to change the culture. But the short time I was in the aerial firefighting world, I was flying with some very gifted pilots who had found their niche and did/do a d@mn good job!

Like any job...it can be as rewarding as you make it.

Eric

 

[mcjohn]

Who drops the Smoke Jumpers?

I guess you all knew the folks in the plane that had a wing seperation a few years back. Saw it replayed on the news a good bit. Never did hear anything about the details. What happened? Sorry for the loss.

 

[avbug]

The wing broke.

It's really a long story that you probably don't want to know.

Jumpers are dropped both by contract, and agency aircraft. Who drops whom depends on what local and aircraft it that you're referencing.