Interesting piece of weather

[Relfy]

I was driving past the airport here in Kingaroy today and saw this nasty little piece of weather coming over the hill to the north of town. I whipped out the digital SLR with zoom lens and got some pics. You wouldn't want that coming through the airfield with aircraft not tied down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Looks like a mini US-style twister allright, or one hell of a big willy willy !!! I have seen them in Western Qld that big in summer, fortunatly from the ground !! Good catch........

 

 

[Relfy]

Maj, we get them out west around Cunnamulla fairly regularly but not quite this big. This thing was huge. I had to pick my nephew up and then I went looking for it again about 5 mins later and it was gone. I felt like a storm chaser for about ten minutes and even thought about buying a big F350 ute and putting computers and dishes all over it and talking in a thick southern accent...then i thought about the balloon boy incident

 

:raise_eyebrow:

 

 

[Guest Brett Campany]

Looks like a very decent dust devil. We get these a lot up in the north west. I remember seeing heaps of them when I drove to Broome in 2007.

 

 

[Simonflyer]

Great photos

 

I had a day right in the heat of the summer flying out north of Deniliquin and i had to be above 4000ft so as not to be affected by the big buggers

 

I flew through a small one that appeared on short final once, and it yawed the plane firmly right, and then firmly left...Full power and I was outta there, but if it was a big one I wonder how bug the effect would have been..

 

anyone else been through one?

 

 

[Relfy]

Good question Simon, and what is the best way to deal with them. I'm thinking full power, try to avoid as much as possible and get out of there.

 

Do any of our experienced members have any other invaluable advice?

 

 

[facthunter]

Twisters/dust devils

 

Avoid them if you can . Always be on the lookout in the areas where they are common. Even large aircraft are affected my them, (I speak from first-hand experience) and sometimes there is no dust to show their presence. A serious hazard to aviation.

 

Flying technique achieve a climb (if needed) aim for turbulence speed (average, don't chase it, Expect large airspeed variations) with a loose adherence to a constant attitude in pitch. Try to minimise loads on the aircraft by avoiding abrupt and extreme control inputs. Nev

 

 

[graeme]

Being a glider pilot from way back, it is common to hear bits of rubbish hitting the glider that have been drawn up by avery strong thermal, you power jocks would not hear this because of all the noise up front. Graeme

 

 

[Yenn]

i drove through one once at about 80mph. It made the car do a little shimmy. Definitely not good to fly through. I would think that even at Va you could easily be overstressed.