VIDEO - Kallithea gyroplane flies around a monster rain cell...

[PeterFromLA]

 

[WaspAir]

Storms like that can often spit out very large hail, over quite a range, so giving it a wide berth is wise.

 

[PeterFromLA]

As I said in the video, this type of weather is fairly unfamiliar to me.
I could not se the anvil cloud above, and from my vantage point on the ground or in the air, I could not see lightning, or hear thunder. Of course all of this meants nothing...

 

[Vance]

As I said in the video, this type of weather is fairly unfamiliar to me.
I could not se the anvil cloud above, and from my vantage point on the ground or in the air, I could not see lightning, or hear thunder. Of course all of this meants nothing...

I stay away from clouds with a lot of vertical development.

Some considerable force lifted that moisture up there that I don’t want any part of.

The development stage of a thunderstorm may not have lightening.

The anvil happens once a thunderstorm is mature.

I don’t want to be around a thunderstorm as it is developing.

I particularly don’t want to be around it as it matures.

When it collapses it can push me all the way to the ground.

I stay a minimum of twenty five miles from thunderstorms.

I have encountered hail more than twenty five miles from a thunderstorm in blue skies.

A call to the weather briefer may have given you more information.

They likely will know how fast a front is moving and where/if it is converging.

I know you have heard me say it and seen me write that my advice to all pilots is:

NEVER HURRY AVIATION!

 

[Andino]

I once tried to outrun a thunderstorm gust front, but it beat me to my intended airport by 45 seconds, and by short final I ran out of rudder in the X-wind. I had to flee to an alternate airport, where I landed and spent the night on the FBO divan. Henceforth, I give them an even wider berth. Glad it worked out for you, though.