Bill
2009-06-12 07:55:46
#42 lefroy
The strength of thunderstorm cells is a bell curve. Yes, you are right, airplanes have blundered into cumulonimbus cells many times and flown out. That doesn’t mean that eventually, one won’t bring an airplane down. Gust limits for a particular airplane are a known quantity which, if exceeded, will break something. And nature is capable of producing those gusts.
And I’m not sure I’d call modern airliners “robust” — I’m looking at Boeing 737 document that says its flight maneuvering load limit is +2.5 g with flaps up (even less with flaps down) which is considerably less than a Cessna. Now a military fighter would be a different story — they are built to take much higher loads.
