There I was, flying a load of freight (bank checks) between two major mid-western cities. As usual during the summer, thunderstorms abounded. It's night of course, and the ceiling was down below minimum vectoring altitude, so I'm cruising along IFR at 3000 feet asking for vectors around the cells.
All is going OK until I get turned over to Whiteman Air Force base approach control. Nice fellow on the radio says to turn north to avoid a cell, so I go 360 degrees. About five minutes later I'm flying inside a washing machine. Rain, lightning, turbulence. I'm trying to maintain maneuvering speed of 125 knots, gear down, when all of a sudden the airplane goes down so fast my head hits the ceiling and snaps my head phones in half.
A few minutes later then the storm spits me out into clear air. I flip the autopilot back on and call approach asking for direct to the MKC VOR. He clears me direct and asks how the ride was. I told him it was real rough, and he apologized, said their radar doesn't display storms very well.
After that experience, I just flew straight lines through the storms. Couldn't be any worse than getting vectors.
There I was, flying a load of freight (bank checks) between two major mid-western cities. As usual during the summer, thunderstorms abounded. It's night of course, and the ceiling was down below minimum vectoring altitude, so I'm cruising along IFR at 3000 feet asking for vectors around the cells.
All is going OK until I get turned over to Whiteman Air Force base approach control. Nice fellow on the radio says to turn north to avoid a cell, so I go 360 degrees. About five minutes later I'm flying inside a washing machine. Rain, lightning, turbulence. I'm trying to maintain maneuvering speed of 125 knots, gear down, when all of a sudden the airplane goes down so fast my head hits the ceiling and snaps my head phones in half.
A few minutes later then the storm spits me out into clear air. I flip the autopilot back on and call approach asking for direct to the MKC VOR. He clears me direct and asks how the ride was. I told him it was real rough, and he apologized, said their radar doesn't display storms very well.
After that experience, I just flew straight lines through the storms. Couldn't be any worse than getting vectors.