Where is the smooth air?

[lieberma]

A FOF passenger may ask, when is the best time get a chance to fly in smooth air. For the most part, turbulence is reasonably predictable.

Clouds are a very good indicator of the level of turbulence the air may contain. Frequent flying will almost make you an amatuer meteorologist. First thing most flyers on day of departure will wonder is, what will the weather be like. The weather channel is great, but doesn't have the eyes that you and I have looking out our windows.

I found several web pages that that you may find informative in determining whether a flight will be a thriller roller coaster ride or a dull smooth flight.

This first web page describes the "family" of clouds you may find above our heads. Go to virtualskies.arc.nasa.gov...ial5b.html (http://virtualskies.arc.nasa.gov/weather/tutorial/tutorial5b.html) for a pictorial description. You can bet my little ole Sundowner will never meet face to face with the high clouds.

For what effects clouds have on flight comfort, please go to virtualskies.arc.nasa.gov...ial5c.html (http://virtualskies.arc.nasa.gov/weather/tutorial/tutorial5c.html) and scroll toward the middle of the web page.

My general rule of thumb is that the "flatter" the clouds are, the smoother the flight will be. There are always exceptions, but most of the time, this rule of thumb does work. So, if you look outside, and see those beautiful puffy clouds, that are tall in nature, you can pretty much bet the air may be a litte bumpy.

The ironic part, is that as a general aviation pilot, I find that if I zig zag around the puffy clouds, that I can reasonably stay in the smooth air. Compare those clouds to the bubbles of a boiling pot of water. The clouds are "bubbles" in the air rising just as a hot pot of water has little bubbles rising to the top. We just live in a big ole pot!:rotflmao

The time of the day, can make or break your enjoyment of your flight. For smooth flights, more often then not, you will find very early morning flights most enjoyable. Not only are you well rested from a good nights sleep, but the air has also had a chance to recover from the heating of the day and settle down.

Depending on the family of clouds above your head, you may find cloudy days smoother days to fly. The reason for this is that the heating of the land is limited, and those rising bubbles are not created. This will smooth out your flight.

The "heavy iron" that Ray flys can most of the time fly above the bubbles of air. This is well shown on virtualskies.arc.nasa.gov...ial5a.html (http://virtualskies.arc.nasa.gov/weather/tutorial/tutorial5a.html) Scroll down the bottom of the page. I myself will never have the ability to climb above the "convective" bubbles that Mother nature may throw out there.

Night flying to me is magical. Generally, the air is silk smooth. I have flown at night where there are more "lights" above me then below me. Getting a front seat to "shooting stars" is an experience everyone should get at flight level 6,500 feet. At that level, you are above the haze, and the sky is just inky black with a bazillion stars.

Of course, flying commercially, you just have a little ole window to peek out, and you can't zig zag like I can, but you can chose a time where the odds are in favor for you to experience a smooth flight.

If it was me suggesting a time for a smooth flight, take a sunrise "cruise" to your destination. Bringing in a day at 35000 feet, and getting to watch a new day come into our lives, is something no one should take for granted. And keep the window shade open! Yes, it may be a little bright, but how often do we get a chance to take in ole sol. :hyped

Allen

[WillFlyToDisney2]

Morning flights? Who is awake then? :rotflmao

Great info, Allen. I have always wondered about the clouds though. :bigplane

Kelley

[ChiefAtHeart]

Thanks for posting. Very informative!

[MarcoAviator]

Then there's CAT, Clear Air Turbulence, which is not caused by clouds but by the jetstream ... or wind and obstructions.

Even on a day when there are no clouds, you can still have turbulence ... but for Airliners (737s, etc.) this is NEVER dangerous because it's predictable and pilots know how to handle it.

Examples: sometimes the jetstream comes to the lower altitudes, in which case you might have turbulence at lower altitudes, induced by the jetstream. This is predictable and the areas with turbulence move with the jetsream, so it's possible to avoid it by not flying or steering around it ... sometimes you have to fly thru it though. Generally that kind of turbulence is "light/medium chop" for big planes. This just means that your flight will be a little bumpy (could get a bit rough from time to time) and the "seatbelts on" will be on for the whole flight.

It's normal and harmless ... just annoying and disconcerting because you would be looking out the window to a clear sky, with no justifiable (apparent) reason for turbulence to be there. Inexplicable and invisible and unexpected things are always scary, but ... it's all normal and harmless.


Other example:
Wind combined obstructions at low altitude can be a pain.

When the wind is strong enough it can hit buildings and mountains and as water flowing over rocks creates "ripples" so does the air.

If it hits buildings it can get a tad choppy during take off and landing.

It can be downright a pain in the a$$ in a general aviation plane during takeoff and landing (been there done that, nice kicks in the butt on final at Linden airport NJ, with all those tanks and buildings on a strong wind day).

But for big planes (737s included) it's just a bit "bumpy". Nothing to worry about.

It's a natural process and the only places where it could be dangerous is for small/medium sized planes (General aviation planes for the most part), at low altitudes above the ground (big jets don't go there) and very close to high mountains (the Rockies).

If you are flying a Cessna or a Piper you don't want to be caught during a windy fall day, at 2000 feet above the surface over the Rockies. You will be tossed around like a salad.

Big planes fly WAAAAAAY above the Rockies... they might experience a little bit of chop ... Again, "seabelts fastened" is on but you can eat, drink and converse and nothing bad will happen to the plane and besides you need to be REALLY close to the mountains in order to get kicked around. Big planes just don't fly that close.

Again, this is all predictable (based on the winds) and airline pilots know how to handle it and big planes are built to handle it and they generally fly above and beyond the reach of this kind of turbulence.

There are turbulence advisories and General aviation pilots (cessna and piper drivers) and planes are NOT built for some of this stuff ... but then again, GA pilots have a choice. We can choose not to fly. Which is what we do in those cases.

The only unpredictability in turbulence is what Lieberma brought up before: cloud-induced turbulence, because of thunderstorms.

But Airliners have weather instruments that tell them where the thunderstorms are. so if the pilot sees it coming, he can stay away from it, wether it was predicted or not.

One way or another ... airliners always come on TOP ... not like us, General Aviation Ground Huggers. :D

That's the big difference between big irons and small birds:

big irons must fly ... that's their business. but they are built strong, and they can fly well above any disturbance and they have ways to avoid the disturbance. Besides, being fast, big and heavy they can cut through wind and turbulence like a knife through hot butter.

small birds are not meant to do any of that ... but small birds don't have to fly: we have a choice to stay on the ground. Which we do in those cases.