When storms are forecast and clouds growing, how do you know whether it is safe to fly, or time to get out of the air? Bruce Goldsmith offers some pointers.
Whilst flying at the Paragliding World Championships in Feltre, Italy in 2017, nearly every day pilots had storms and overdevelopment. Not only did I get some nice photos of storms, but it was a good chance to remind myself of some of the important points of storm flying.
Even though there were storms most days there were no accidents during the whole comp from pilots flying near storms, despite the pictures I took which might make you think otherwise. Here’s my advice on how to handle flying when storms are likely.
Look at the forecast: The first thing to do is look at the forecast before you fly to check the likelihood of storms. Weather forecasts are generally good at forecasting storms, often with a prediction of the time that the storms are likely to happen.
Look at the clouds where you are: Towering cumuli are a strong signal that storms are likely to happen. Look to see if there is an upper limit to the clouds or if they just seem to tower high without any limit in altitude. If there is an upper limit, then that indicates an inversion which will slow down storm development – storms may still happen, but it may happen later in the day. If there is no upper limit, then that indicates no inversion – storms will likely build more rapidly and happen earlier.
Look at the photo above of the amazing towering cumulus during one 11am briefing in the World Championships. It does not take a genius to predict thunderstorms that day.
In the air, look sideways: If you are flying and you fear the cloud above you might be getting big, it is not possible to see how high it’s getting because you are underneath it. In that case you should take a look at the other clouds around you, which can help you to estimate what is above you. If the cloud over there looks big, the one you are under is probably big too.
The dangers of storms
Storms are scary things in general but there are two main dangers for pilots. These are strong wind close to the ground; and getting sucked up to high altitudes and getting frozen. Lightning is also a danger, but I have only ever heard of one person being struck by lightning in flight in the whole of flying history.
Strong wind: The number-one danger of storms remains strong wind. Strong wind can be seen from the air and you can actually see it quite easily. You can see wind on lakes or water, in the way the trees move, in smoke, in washing on the line, in the way the birds are landing or flying on the hillside. In dusty areas, you can see it as a line of dust approaching. Make sure you are not trying to land when strong wind hits.
Thunder: My own personal rule is that if I hear thunder I escape as fast as I can. This is of course the final straw and you should have seen many warning signs before you actually get a thunder clap, but the thunder clap is the absolute final warning that says ‘Get out of here!’.
Terrain: The terrain in which you are flying is also very important. Mountainous terrain is much more dangerous than flatlands. This is because the mountains can cause the storm to spread quickly down a valley. Another problem is that valley winds can be funnelled down valleys and you have no route of escape. Take extra care in mountains, where playing with storms is much more dangerous. Keep a bigger safety margin.
Planning ahead
When you are close to a storm you should study it. You need to see which way it is growing and also see what the best escape route is. If you ever get sucked in, then try to maintain a heading in the direction of the escape route that you worked out before you went in.
Practise staying on course and using your instruments to make sure that you can stay on your planned best escape route. Take note of these things before you go into cloud. You might decide for instance to head due south, so check that your instruments can show you clearly due south before you get sucked in.
All storms are not equal
At the World Championships 150 pilots flew safely every day for two weeks and on most days there were storms around. The storms were real storms with thunder and lightning, but they were quite mild without strong gust fronts. The storms were also forecast so they were expected by the pilots who were among the world’s best.
This is not always the case. Our sports’ most serious storm accident took place in Como, Italy in 1989. The day was overcast with weak lift. All the pilots were scraping around in weak lift trying to stay up. Nobody expected storms.
But a storm grew above the stratus cloud layer, and about 20 pilots were sucked into cloud on their hang gliders. Not only was the storm unexpected but it was also hidden and extremely violent.
Several pilots were killed as they tried to land in strong winds around the gust fronts from the storm.
This terrible day has gone down in the history books as the worst ever day in free flying.
Bruce Goldsmith has been flying since the 1980s. He has been British Hang Gliding Champion twice, British Paragliding Champion three times and was Paragliding World Champion in 2007. He has been designing paragliders for 20 years. This article was originally published in Cross Country 183 (September 2017).
