Sharing last Sunday's flight (tornadoes in South Georgia)

[Tony Armour]

Controller said "the waters warm, come on in !" 

 

And the pilot in command was too interested in continuing the flight   (NOT blaming the controller!)
I honestly don't think it was getthereitus. I've just done many like this that I can top and at least pick my way between the big ones and stay in blue sky so I kept wanting to just take a "look"

Bad experience last year and now this one.

Last year: Six months ago, into a convective cloud (by accident, I know, how the hell does that happen) in the (tail dragger) little airplane, very little airplane    No worries though, it had instruments for airspeed and .... uh airspeed. Well, a hand held GPS too. It turned me 180 degrees and spit me out 2,000 higher than I went in (10,500) back into a perfect blue sky. I concentrated on the airspeed and finally a heading when I came to my senses. Probably a minute, two ? Felt like 15. I looked down at the GPS altitude and realized I was much higher and then saw the track showed a perfect 180 that I didn't do   It was really a harrowing experience. 

Last Sunday with all the weather activity in South Georgia and surrounding states I tried to make it from south Florida to north Georgia. Lots of wind and turbulence low and on the ground. Perfectly smooth at 12,000' so heck, let's go to 16,000' to see if we can see over this crap, how about 20,000' Nope, so discussion with controllers, the usual etc. etc. just about ready to give it up when we see and the controller suggests 045. Yea, there is a clear area for a way and then maybe we can get thru the rest. I ask the controller about any icing reports, "no, no reports at all" There were just a couple of pireps at that time, all from big iron up high. Soooo, I requested higher and got 23,000 maybe we can still top this. I commented to my passengers....it's really too cold for icing up here right now. A minor issue, engine started running rough at 21,500',one cylinder (altitude/mags I assume) so I asked and got lower again 19,000 and then from the perfectly smooth air we entered the cloud. Not a white puffy looking cloud I expect bumps in but a low overcast (wet??) looking cloud. We hit the first few minor bumps as expected, I'm watching the wing to see if ice is there when we hit another good bump, check wing, uh that's building. Look back up and the windshield is covered. Probably had 1/4" at that time, less than 10 seconds (prop and pito heat on before entering) About that time we took a really good ride, up, down. I immediately spun the heading bug 180. Sometime fairly quick after that the autopilot kicked off. My back seat passenger said it sounded like someone was throwing buckets of gravel in front of us. I remember noise but was really really on the instruments at that point. I believe it was a slushy type mix. I don't think the autopilot liked the excitement either so I got our turn made and the turbulence slacked and I put the autopilot back on. During, I pointed out to my copilot (IFR rated) the vsi was pegged on -2,000. Flight aware shows one -3,400 rate. I did have it in my head not to pull back too hard and actually gave some slack when I felt the G,s on my butt. I started a descent since Mooney's  do not like ice. Ground speed going in, 300 knots, ground speed coming out, <80 knots so it sure was longer coming out. Meanwhile the controller is screaming at me asking if I needed a block altitude. (I'm pretty sure no one was even close to us, ADSB and a Zaon) Even after and in the clear he was concerned with this block request, chewing me out. When it all went south I did transmit something about doing a 180, turbulence and ice. After that I was concerned with staying upright and not tearing the wings off, not so much with talking to him until we got clear. He suggested landing Tallahassee and I was all in. Even with reports of 17 gusting to 30+ and wind shear I was in ! Gladly when we landed it was only 16 and down the runway. Shortly after it was again 20 gusting to 30+. 
We rented a car, got a bite to eat then I had to beg the FBO to get the airplane in their hanger (they weren't even tying it down) because we had come under a tornado warning with possible hail. At this point I did now had getthereitus and really wanted to spend the night in my bed so after 18 years owning a Mooney I left my bird somewhere else and we drove home in guess what...clear skies most of the way, still very gusty and not so good at the home base though, NO regrets. Shortly before we left, it looked to be rain the whole drive back. The pictures are as we were headed back in the car. Pireps now abundant with some scary details. There were basically no pireps as we were in route. This same system is the one that turned to a tornado shortly after our ordeal. Our original plan was to go off shore near Panama City and go around the back side because it was doing the normal build up over the Florida coast. That changed while we were in the air, it started building more and more into the gulf. I gave props to my copilot that has quite a few years less experience than me and suggested several times to just go land. Let's just go look I said   


I felt and still feel like the little boy that got his butt kicked on the playground and there is absolutely

nothing he can do about it now   

 

Stupid pilot tricks.

1. An exceptional pilot uses his exceptional knowledge so he doesn't have to use his exceptional skills.

2. I'd rather be down here wishing I was up there instead of up there wishing I was down here.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N40ZM

[kelty]

Thanks for sharing.  I know I have certainly had a case of the gettherits.  Nice work flying the plane and getting out of there.  AVIATE, Navigate, Communicate. 

[Danb]

Wow Tony,,nuff said 

[Hank]

It was exciting down here on the ground in Lower Alabama. Tornado sirens woke me up in the morning, and sounded several more times. We were doing the annual in the hangar. On Saturday, the tornado-bearing clouds blew though at 60 mph! From eastern Mississippi to South Georgia, there were 39 tornadoes, but the sky was beautiful Saturday afternoon. Sunday was more of the same, with fast-moving low ceilings and virga that didn't clear up.

Glad you're alright!!

[carusoam]

Thanks for sharing Tony!

Best regards,

-a-