Turbulence

Hey guys I got a couple questions about turbulence, some may be trivial but I thought I’d ask anyway.

  1. when you are climbing or descending into an airport and you have auto pilot engaged what do you do when you run into some turbulence? As in do you take control of the aircraft or let autopilot do that?

  2. I was on a flight from salt lake to Denver the other day and noticed a thunderhead that we maneuvered around, would the pilot have done that or put this in the auto pilot system?

  3. this may seem dumb but what does turbulence feel like in the cockpit? I could certainly feel the wind shear pushing the plane around from the cabin I wondered if the cockpit felt the same.

  4. what is the one thing you have to do as a pilot when you encounter turbulence

And lastly what is the worst turbulence you have felt?

Sorry that was a lot of questions but I really appreaciate your time!

Jesse

Hi Jesse,

  1. If it’s just turbulence that’s encountered, one thing we can do is slow the airplane at or below its maneuvering speed. Maneuvering speed protects the aircraft from structural damage due to abrupt control inputs, which can be in the form of turbulence. This can be done with autopilot on or off. It really depends on the situation, but I’d say most of the time the autopilot would be engaged unless the turbulence got bad enough to the point where the pilot needed to intervene.

  2. Thunderstorms in Denver?! Who knew?! Haha. Again, depends on the situation. Most pilots would leave the AP engaged and manipulate the aircraft’s lateral navigation mode to circumnavigate the weather.

  3. Still sucks

  4. Get out of it if you can. If not, slow down.

  5. Wake turbulence from another aircraft after takeoff. Rolled our airplane into a 40 degree bank.

Tory

Jesse,

Take a look at this article that I wrote:

https://airlinepilot.life/t/hand-flying-at-the-airlines/437

Jesse,

Just to add my 2 cents:

  1. The AP does a fine job handling turbulence however if the turbulence exceeds the APs limits it will disengage. Also if we’re “picking” our way around some turbulent clouds it’s often easier (and smoother) to hand fly.

  2. Generally if you’re at altitude it’s easier to enter a course correction or deviation and let the AP fly it.

  3. Bumpy

  4. Depends on the level. First and foremost you always try and avoid it if you can. As the others have it’s best to slow down and deviate if possible.

  5. I’ve encounter some significant turbulence during my career. Not sure how to rate which was worst?

Adam

Thank you guys for the insight!

Jesse