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Flying into storms to be feared, avoided, pilots say
Airline pilots are well known for a sense of calm confidence, but when it comes to flying through thunderstorms, they tend to have the same reaction don't.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:01 June 2, 2009
- Image Credit:
Amsterdam/Paris: Airline pilots are well known for a sense of calm confidence, but when it comes to flying through thunderstorms, they tend to have the same reaction don't.
Aviation experts are debating whether lightning or turbulence may have caused Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 with 228 passengers and crew aboard, to crash into the Atlantic Ocean early on Monday.
Brazil's air force said on Tuesday that its planes have sighted wreckage 650km off its northern coast that could be part of the missing airliner.
Two veteran pilots said they would take pains to avoid flying into storms, even though modern aircraft are designed to withstand them.
"My personal record was a diversion of almost 300 nautical miles just to circumnavigate a large area of showers over the western Atlantic Ocean near Florida," said Evert van Zwol, president of the Dutch pilots' association VNV.
The A330, flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, encountered heavy turbulence about four hours after takeoff, and around 15 minutes later sent an automatic message reporting electrical faults.
It vanished shortly after it was due to have flown through a belt of turbulence and frequent storms at the equator.
"You don't go into this sort of weather lightly. It's nasty for the passengers and can be alarming for us," said Tim Armstrong, a former B747 captain for Singapore Airlines.
"Flying actually into the top of one of these storms is pretty alarming, especially in that area where storm clouds are very high and active," Armstrong said.
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