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Thunderstorms build and
dissipate rapidly, and they also may move rapidly, so don't plan to
fly in between thunderstorm radar echoes.
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Hail may fall several
miles from the cloud, and hazardous turbulence may extend as much as
20 miles from the cloud. Avoid the most intense echoes by at least 20
miles.
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Never try to fly under the
thunderstorm, even if you can see through to the other side,
turbulence can be very dangerous.
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Don't land or take off in
the face of a thunderstorm because wind shear or low level turbulence
could cause loss of control.
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Never try to clear the top
of a thunderstorm unless you know your aircraft can handle the
altitude requirements: 1,000 feet for every 10 knots of wind speed at
the cloud top.
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Remember that frequent and
vivid lightning indicates a severe thunderstorm.
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- Tighten your safety belts and secure
loose objects
- Plan to fly your course through the
storm in a minimum amount of time
- Penetrate the storm beneath the freezing
level
- Turn on pitot heat, carburetor heat, or
jet inlet heat
- Reduce airspeed to those recommended in
your POH for turbulence
- Turn up cockpit lights to highest
intensity to lessen the chance of blindness from lightning
- Turn off auto pilot
- Keep your eyes on your instruments
- Keep power setting stable
- Keep altitude stable, but do not over
control (ride the waves)
- Don't turn around inside the
thunderstorm, keep going straight through, turning causes more stress
on the aircraft
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