How safe are Airplanes During Thunderstorms?

Question

Please answer.

My sister is coming home from her vacation and theyres supposed to be a thunderstorm today

im scared

while shes in the plane and a thunderstorms happening

how safe are they during t-storms?

PLZ EMERGENCY!

Answer 1

I'm sorry "lover not a fighter" but that is absolutely false.

A severe thunderstorm usually has a vertical development of more than 40 000 feet, well above the highest cruising altitudes of modern jet airliners.

I'll paste what I answered to a similar question:

An airplane will never ever fly through a thunderstorm on purpose.

The lightning inside a thunderstorm is not the factor that makes this a general rule in aviation.

Basically a thunderstorms consists of constant updrafts and downdrafts, and the borderline between these create wind shear.

If you flew a small airplane through a severe thunderstorm it would basically be thrown around to a so large degree that it would fall apart.

Another important factor about thunderstorms are hail. Basically if an airplane gets subject to large hail when inside a thunderstorm it could severely damage the airplane, dent the wings of the airplane and destroying the wing design that makes the airplane able to fly.

For general aviation small aircraft the rule of thumb is to stay an actual 20 nautical miles away from a severe thunderstorm just because the extreme air shifting inside a thunderstorm can be felt many many miles from it, so just imagine being inside it.

So basically you have to fly around it, especially a severe one, why not over it you say? Well, if you have a severe thunderstorm, it can actually have a vertical development of 40 000 + feet. Now all the big jet airliners have a cruising altitude of less than 40 000 feet, so flying above it, even for the big jets is impossible, for a smaller aircraft it's not even tossed in as a thought.

Also, as others have mentioned, they are extremely hazardous to landing aircraft, they create wind shear which basically means that the airplane can be subject to sudden downdrafts and/or sudden changes in air flowing over the wings.

If you take into consideration that what makes an airplane fly is the air moving over the wings, if a 30 knot headwind shifts into a 30 knot tailwind, that airplane is now flying 60 knots slower than it was a few seconds ago, this then translates into the fact that the airplane may not have enough airspeed to keep itself in the air, and it might then stall, and fall towards the ground. If this happens in the landing phase of a flight the airplane is already slow and low, and the effect of this could/would be disastrous to everyone on board on on the ground.

So as a conclusion.

All airplanes, from the smallest to the largest, stay out of thunderstorms.

However don't worry, the pilots can see the thunderstorms with weather radar and will just avoid them. The worst thing that can happen is a diversion to another airport

Answer 2

No worries they are safe pilots are trained for that kind of stuff so don't worry ive bin throu one last week and it was scary but it decended very safely so no worries ok ;)

Answer 3

not very safe. the pilot might not be able to see anything and the plane my also be struck by lightning.

Answer 4

You have nothing to worry about.  Pilots will fly around thunderstorms, not through them.  Thunderstorms tend to be scattered, so even if it's thundering and lightning right over your house, the airport could very well be clear.  If there is a thunderstorm right over the airport, the pilots will wait until it is safe to land.  If that takes too long, they will divert to a different airport and try later.

The only thing thunderstorms may do is delay the flight.  That's all.  Nothing to be scared about.  Pilots deal with thunderstorms on a daily basis during the summer.

Answer 5

Must be some bad weather around.  Somebody just asked a very similar question yesterday.

Pilots will never intentionally fly into a storm cell.  Airplanes have onboard radar and air traffic controllers use their radar to aid pilots in avoiding thunderstorms.

Yes, it is dangerous to fly an airplane into a storm.  But pilots deal with storms on a daily basis.  If a plane is in cruise flight, it will be on top of many storms.  Pilots can easily steer around the higher storms.  If there is a storm at the landing airport, the solution is simple.  The pilot won't land until the storm has safely passed.  Worst case, the flight will divert to an alternate airport with better weather.  Pilots and airlines keep a close eye on the weather at all times and adjust operations accordingly.

So no worries about you sister's safety.  The worst that will happen is that her flight will be delayed because of the weather.

Answer 6

Planes fly at 35K feet.  Storms happen at 5K feet or below.  So they are NOT affected during the flight.

They are only affected during take off and landing - but ONLY by extreme thunderstorms.  If you could look up and see the clouds, then they have instrumentation to help them through that kind of light thunderstorms.

===

4 weeks ago, my wife was returning and it rained cats and dogs here (JFK).  So the landing was delayed.  But when it pours like that, it is only very mometary as it can NOT rain that heavy for so long. So after 30 minutes, the rain cleared up and she landed safely.

Good luck...

P.S.  The only problem is that the delays will cascade with badgades, etc.

P.P.S.  The next women have no idea what she is talking about.  Planes have instrumentation to guide them to landing without visiual ques SAFELY.  It is called instrument approach.  Lightings hit airplane ALL THE TIME with no affect - ALL THE TIME.