
What it's like to skydive through a thunderstorm - mootothemax
http://www.damninteresting.com/rider-on-the-storm/?
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astrec
This story also appears in Gavin Pretor-Pinney's The Cloudspotter's Guide,
which is one of the more amusing and inspiring books about clouds I've come
across.

There's a slightly more modern instance of someone surviving a CuNim under
canopy: Ewa Wisnierska (and some other pilots) encountered the mother of all
cloud suck during practice for 2007 paragliding world championships in
Manilla, Australia. Ewa survived after reaching an altitude of 32600 feet,
ostensibly because her unconscious body slumped in a position that steered her
glider out of the storm by weight shift, and the accumulated ice in the canopy
(paragliders are a ram-air airfoil of non-porous construction) caused a
collapse which returned her to a survivable altitude. Another pilot, He
Zhongpin, died after being struck by lightning in the same system.

There's a documentary called Miracle in the Storm which details Ewa's
survival.

~~~
mikeash
Not long after this happened, I was in China and met up with a local glider
pilot to check into the possibility of doing some flying in that country. It
didn't work out (soaring is not exactly common or easy there) but we had an
interesting talk. Turned out he did paragliding too and was friends with the
Chinese fellow who got killed in that cloud in Australia.

This is yet another reason I won't try paragliding. I don't want to fly
anything where my body forms the landing gear, nor anything whose terminal
velocity is lower than the speed of updrafts in a thunderstorm.

~~~
astrec
Interesting. I had a friend come back from a flying trip to China a few weeks
ago and he said much the same thing - not common and too hard logistically.

It's not the sport for everyone, that's for sure. I love it, and am never
quite so happily as when the vario is screaming, although I'll admit it's 98%
bliss and 2% pure terror.

It's worth mentioning that a CuNim will happily break a 747 too - that's why
all aircraft give them a wide berth.

In Manilla it was a case of competitive pilots taking disproportionate risks.
Based on the photos I've seen of that day, I think a lesser pilot such as
myself would never even have launched.

~~~
mikeash
Wonder if we met with the same fellow. Andrew Du, I think his name was.

And you're right that a more substantial aircraft is no guarantee of survival,
but a glider with a Vne of 140+kts and hefty airbrakes is going to have a much
better time escaping from cloud suck than a paraglider.

There are days where it's foolish to launch, of course, but days which look
good can still surprise you, so I like having the extra capabilities.

With bigger gliders you get much the same thrill with the vario screaming and
such, but somewhat more safety. (Still plenty of risk, of course, but a few
obvious failure modes are at least reduced.)

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cas
Really interesting yet scary account, not what I was expecting!

Google Cache:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KLIEiKs...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KLIEiKsxqsUJ:www.damninteresting.com/rider-
on-the-storm/+Lt+Herbert+Nolan&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk)

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steve8918
Very interesting story.

One question for any experts: why did he eject at such a high altitude? Would
it have been possible for him to have taken the plane down to a lower altitude
before trying to eject? Or was there a technical reason why he had to eject
when he did?

~~~
crikli
Glide ratio, or lack thereof. Swept wing fighters usually have a glide ratio
of like 1.5:1, meaning you go 1.5 feet for every foot you drop. With the
engine out you've lost the hydraulic boost you have over the control surfaces
so the aircraft is going to become more and more difficult to control as it
accelerates. Also, crap glide ratios mean it's much easier to get into an
accelerated stall that almost instantly becomes a spin...and then you're
really screwed.

And the low glide ratio means that even if the control issues weren't there,
you're not gliding your way out of a t-cell. I've flown over a flat-top
cumulonimbus once with a friend who owned an Epic LT turboprop. Those things
are...well, words fail. Epic ^ inf.

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PaulHoule
A few Germans ejected into a thunderstorm during WWII and got lifted by the
updraft... They were turned into hailstones and thrown miles away.

~~~
JshWright
While some German jets did have ejection seats in WWII, they weren't terribly
common.

~~~
PaulHoule
I don't think it was an ejection seat, I think they jumped out the hatch.

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crikli
I would love to buy the book about his experience, but copies are way
expensive ($60-$160).

<http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Rode-Thunder/dp/0135482712>

Perhaps if all us HNers could click on the "I'd like to read this on Kindle"
link the publisher might re-release it:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/detail/request-
kindle...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/detail/request-kindle-
edition/ref=dtp_dp_su_0135482712?ie=UTF8&a=0135482712)

~~~
gnosis
Try seeing if you can get it at your local library or a nearby university
library. Even if they don't have a copy, they might be able to get it for you
through inter-library loan.

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cromulent
This sounds horrendous. I've fallen through rain clouds more than a few times,
which is painful but bearable, and hail once, which is not. Don't jump through
green clouds if you can avoid it.

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bryanh
I'm so glad Alan is back and doing these again, after the book came out he
kind of dropped off the edge of the Earth. Definitely one of the few sites I
checked regularly.

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wccrawford
"Lightning".

~~~
mootothemax
Hehe, thanks for the correction; that's one of my "gotcha" misspellings that,
despite knowing how often I get it wrong, I still write incorrectly
nonetheless! :)

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utefan001
did Nolan survive?

~~~
bigiain
As I read it, Nolan was in another plane, presumably he would have landed
normally (on the assumption his engine didn't also cut out).

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TheloniusPhunk
Awesome.

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ThaddeusQuay2
<http://xkcd.com/962>

<http://explainxkcd.com/2011/10/10/the-corliss-resolution>

