Cumulonimbus and aviation
Dangers of cloud formations to aircraft / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Numerous accidents have occurred in the vicinity of thunderstorms due to the density of clouds. It is often said that the turbulence can be extreme enough inside a cumulonimbus to tear an aircraft into pieces, and even strong enough to hold a skydiver. However, this kind of accident is relatively rare. Moreover, the turbulence under a thunderstorm can be non-existent and is usually no more than moderate. Most thunderstorm-related crashes occur due to a stall close to the ground when the pilot gets caught by surprise by a thunderstorm-induced wind shift. Moreover, aircraft damage caused by thunderstorms is rarely in the form of structural failure due to turbulence but is typically less severe and the consequence of secondary effects of thunderstorms (e.g., denting by hail or paint removal by high-speed flight in torrential rain).
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Cumulonimbus clouds are known to be extremely dangerous to air traffic, and it is recommended to avoid them as much as possible. Cumulonimbus can be extremely insidious, and an inattentive pilot can end up in a very dangerous situation while flying in apparently very calm air.
While there is a gradation with respect to thunderstorm severity, there is little quantitative difference between a significant shower generated by a cumulus congestus and a small thunderstorm with a few thunderclaps associated with a small cumulonimbus. For this reason, a glider pilot could exploit the rising air under a thunderstorm without recognising the situation – thinking instead that the rising air was due to a more benign variety of cumulus. However, forecasting thunderstorm severity is an inexact science; in numerous occasions, pilots got trapped by underestimating the severity of a thunderstorm that suddenly strengthened.