Weather Hazards

 Thunderstorms can be the most hazardous thing to fly through. A thunderstorm can entail lightening, turbulence, wind shear, and icing. Each of these things pose their own threats to an aircraft. 

Lightening can strike the ground, another cloud, or discharge into the air. This means there is no way for a pilot to know where the lightening will come from. Lightening has the potential to take out a whole aircraft by overloading the electrical system and causing it to crash. 

Turbulence can throw an aircraft around like a rag doll by lifting it up or dropping the aircraft suddenly and an experienced pilot can still struggle in these situations because of how sporadic it can be. 

Wind shear, especially when at takeoff and landing can really throw off a pilot. It can cause an aircraft to stall or launch forward unexpectedly and takes a lot of control to keep the aircraft under control. 

Pilots do get information from the ATC, but hey cannot rely on them only, for weather. Pilots have to get a report before getting in the aircraft, but because a thunderstorm can and will show up out of nowhere with no warning, pilots have to be prepared to go through, and safely get out as quickly as possible. 

Harding, K. (2021, July). Thunderstorm Formations and Aviation Hazards. NOAA’s National Weather Service. https://www.weather.gov/media/publications/front/11jul-front.pdf