Once en route, a Stormscope and the view out the window help clue you in on the active weather picture at the moment.

By Ron Levy

Thunderstorms are one of the reminders that man is in many ways powerless before the forces of nature. They contain energies and forces that are virtually incomprehensible – often expressed in terms such as a comparison to an unimaginably large stack of thermonuclear weapons, any one of which whose destructive potential is itself almost unimaginable.

There are, from time to time, stories of aircraft entering thunderstorms. Sometimes they are quickly spit out, damaged and shaken, but able to limp to an airport and tell the tale. In other cases, they are either torn apart or simply squashed into the ground. Any way you look at it, no pilot…