Can the plane take off in thunderstorm weather?

Planes can't take off in thunderstorm weather.

The flight route of any flight needs to be strictly approved and managed by civil aviation and relevant departments. Flight route is a space with a certain width and height between two points and a certain navigation ability.

Within the prescribed flight route, if there is bad weather such as thunderstorm, the flight will not pass. Thunderstorm is a disastrous weather phenomenon caused by extremely unstable air, which often carries strong winds, heavy rains, lightning strikes and even hail, so it can often cause disasters and greatly endanger the safety of civil aviation transportation.

Extended data:

The threat of thunderstorm weather to flight safety is mainly manifested in:

First, heavy precipitation?

When an airplane flies under, near or in a thunderstorm cloud, it may enter a heavy precipitation area. Heavy precipitation will cause the engine to inhale too much water and affect the engine.

In the low-altitude landing stage, heavy precipitation will reduce the aircraft performance and affect the pilot's observation and judgment. In addition, the runway surface is slippery due to precipitation, and there have been accidents such as pilots' unclear vision, planes rushing off the runway and even plane crashes.

Second, lightning?

Thunderstorm clouds contain huge energy, and they will show their terrible side in the form of electric discharge. We often see green, yellow, red and other colors in radar images, which are reflected by radar to indicate the intensity of precipitation (liquid).

In most cases, the intensity of reflected echo also represents the possibility of discharge at this position. If the plane is struck by lightning, it may cause damage to the body, failure of some navigation equipment or damage to system equipment.

Third, hail?

Hail usually appears in or downwind of thunderstorm clouds. Hail is very harmful to fast-flying aircraft, which can lead to windshield rupture or radome damage in severe cases. If the engine or operating system is damaged by hail, the consequences are unimaginable.

4. Strong wind (wind shear)?

Thunderstorm clouds are often accompanied by strong winds, and the wind direction and wind speed may change dramatically, resulting in strong turbulence of the aircraft. For example, in the low-altitude landing stage, there are not a few flight accidents caused by the sharp reduction of aircraft lift caused by the downburst and wind shear under the thunderstorm cloud.

5. Ice accumulation?

Thunderstorm clouds are generally "tall", and supercooled water droplets often exist at some heights in the clouds. The cloud anvil blown by the wind at the top of the cloud is relatively large, and the air temperature is very low. Once the aircraft flies in these areas, it may encounter strong ice accumulation in a short time, which will lead to the attenuation of the flight performance of the aircraft.

Sixth, bump?

Thunderstorm clouds are accompanied by unstable air convection, especially airflow movement. The outside air is also very unstable, which will cause moderate to severe bumps in the plane.

Flying in bumpy conditions for a long time will make the crew feel unwell and reduce their working ability. If the seat belt is not fastened properly, it may also cause injury to the crew or passengers.

Seven, low visibility?

Civil aviation has strict visibility standards for aircraft taking off and landing. Generally, when the visibility is lower than 1000m, the take-off and landing of flights will be affected.

According to the unified standards of the international civil aviation industry, landing standards such as blind descent (the pilot can't see the airport runway clearly with the naked eye) require that the plane can see the runway clearly 60 meters from the ground, and the visibility should be greater than 800 meters.

The second type of blind landing requires that the plane can see the runway when it is 30 meters off the ground, and the visibility is more than 400 meters; According to the different visibility, the three kinds of blind descent are divided into three levels: A, B and C. The highest level of visibility is zero, that is, the real blind descent (I didn't see anything when landing, mostly for some unexpected situations).

In addition to the above points, thunderstorm weather will also bring many unfavorable factors, including the psychological impact on pilots and ground crew, fatigue caused by increased workload and so on.

Phoenix net-on the influence of thunderstorm weather on civil aviation flights