Storms
Listening 2.07
Listening 2.07
Describe what you can see in the picture at page 40.
We have a large commercial aircraft, a 747, in what
appears to be the landing phase of flight on a pretty
miserable, dark evening. The main gear appears to
be partially extended, and it has its landing lights on.
Speaking about the meteorological conditions, we
have convective storms producing fork lightning, dense
clouds, which the pilot would have to avoid; and there are
possibly updrafls.and squalls to avoid, and crosswinds.
The rudder, the yaw directional control, would need to be
controlled automatically or perhaps very carefully manually
operated, to keep the aircraft in line with the runway prior
to landing. Visibility may also be poor, so all together the
conditions look quite qjiallenging^for the flight crew. The
aircraft is approaching from right to left over a body of
water, perhaps a river, and there are hills on either side
of the water. In the distance is what looks like a large city
with a lot of high rise buildings, possibly in North America.
Listening 2.08
Listening 2.08
I= Interviewer, P= Pilot
I What's like to fly through a storm?
P Actually flying into a storm is pretty nasty for passengers
and can be pretty scary for us . Flying In
stormy conditions is always a challenge, but when
you get active storm clouds at high altitudes, when
there's uplift and moisture in the clouds it's really
tough.
I If you can't fly through them, do you fly
around
them?
P Yeah. wherever possible. Flying through storms does
happen, but l think most pilots would agree that it
is pretty unusual to take an aircraft straight into a
storm cell.
I What do you do when you're faced with storms?
P If there is a line of storm
c louds to fly through,
you usually go for a gap in the line. We have a
radar on board which senses water droplets, so we
can see storm activity up ahead and plan for It
When visibility is poor, or you are flying at night,
the radar is especially important. The problem is.
the radar only senses water droplets. It can't see
turbulence, so even if you fly around a storm, it could
still be a bumpy ride.
I We know bad weather causes a lot of delays
for
airlines. Are storms particularly disruptive?
P Yeah, weather is usually in the top three reasons
for delay. I once had to circumnavigate a large area
of showers over the western Pacific which was
almost 300 nm out of the way. Definitely the longest
diversion I ever had to make.