What is it like flying through a torrential downpour?

Question

Driving through something like that the windows are a river. When flying at higher speeds and a much sleeker design what is the pilots visibility like? (fighter jet or airliner at low altitude presumably at final approach or take off) Are the windows plastered with water?

Just curious. Thanks.

Answer 1

Well, as pilot, consider it a "free" airplane wash -

In some parts of the world, they even name the country after heavy rain -

The case of "Bangla-douche" -



I once landed a 747 airplane in Dhaka - they reported "light rain" -

They had in fact 2 inches (5 cm) of accumulated water on the runway -

They did not want to "inconvenience" us to go land somewhere else -

I wonder if they issue 747 seaplane ratings...?



One of the leading exports of that country is frog legs -

They probably produce them in the airport area -

Answer 2

The carwash is a good analogy. In a "torrential downpour" you cannot see anything, or extremely little, even with the wipers or other rain-shedding devices operating at maximum. Thats what flight instruments are for. Because severe downdrafts are sometimes associated with a torrential downpour, pilots usually avoid taking off or landing in such conditions and generally try to avoid heavy rain while enroute because of the turbulence often associated with it. However, one can takeoff and land in moderate to heavy rain in the right conditions and it happens all the time, just not in a "torrential downpour" which often reduces the visibility below legal landing minimums.

Answer 3

Sorta like being in a car wash. You can still see where you are going, but not real well. Rain will stream from fore to aft on the canopy just like your car, only faster. In fact the last A-4 I flew actually had a windshield wiper blade. It was worthless at speed, but quite handy on the final approach and roll-out. Taxiing with it on always struck me as looking silly, but it did its' job. At least I never taxied into another parked A-4. One would NEVER hear the end of doing something that moronic!

Pilots could always tell when a plane was scheduled to be washed. Your plane captain (who did the washing) would nicely ask you to find some rain and drive the bird through it 2-3 times to clean it. Rain does an excellent job of cleaning them up.

Answer 4

In a prop plane with a prop in front of the windshield it actually isn't too bad provided the rain isn't strong enough to cut down the flight visibility. The propwash combined with a water-repellent polish just makes the water bead up and get blown backwards as fast or faster than most jets. There are usually no windshield wipers.



http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww283/propsink/rain.jpg

Answer 5

In a Cessna 152, it is noisy and you can't see out. The airplane comes out very clean, though. You can tell if you have a bad paint job, also, as sometimes it will peel off the paint.