Here's the time stamps with the best flashes of lightning since this video is somewhat long: - 1:23 - 2:45 - 4:04 - 4:25 - 5:01 - 5:29 - 6:02 Medium turbulence and more rain - 6:18
I've enjoyed seeing everyone's view on if they'd enjoy this flight or not. For the record, I did feel safe and quite enjoyed the way we danced around the (quite obvious) worst zones. I can only imagine how much fun the pilots were having up front, really working the machine as an extension of their body and keeping themselves engaged with the environment and live weather. Would you enjoy this super-sized bush flying, or would you be looking forward to simply making it to point B?
There has only been one accident ever related to turbulence, the plane is riding on autopilot and the pilots avoid the storms, it may be scary but know that you are safe and it is more dangerous to drive on a slippery road with your car than this turbulence.
@shawnclark2550 yea, thunderstorms are displayed on radar so pilots can easily avoid them when seen, you'd only really be hitting turbulence in these conditions which at worst will give you motion sickness, plane wings are designed to take atleast 150% of the worst turbulence you'd encounter so planes are sound in bad weather
The best message I’ve ever heard from a pilot to his passengers before a stormy take-off was “We can handle it up here, if you can handle it back there”. 😮
If it weren’t for turbulence, I wouldn’t enjoy flying. Turbulence can be so fun sometimes. What are you afraid of exactly? It’s like a car driving through a bumpy road.
@@PD-ws4td can't really describe it. Panic sets in. When everything is smooth, the shades come down, and I'm just watching a movie, I can forget I'm even on a plane. But when things start bouncing around then I. I'm jarred into reality that I'm in a flying tin can with 7 miles over the earth going 600 mph. It's like the primitive part of my brain kicks in and realizes I'm not supposed to be here. We're apes, not birds. Something like that I guess lol.
@@rexx9496 I get it, don’t worry. You should try flight simulator games like msfs, once you understand how a plane functions it will make you feel waay more comfortable flying in one. A plane is designed to fly under almost any kind of weather conditions and it is especially engineered to withstand turbulence. A plane is so safe that it is able to fly perfectly well with only single engine if one were to fail, and the wings can flex so well that there aren’t any natural forces that can break them when in the air. I feel a lot safer on a plane than say in a taxi or a bus.
@@PD-ws4tdI think for a lot of people, the fear comes from a lack of control. Even though statistically I’m safer in a plane than in a car, I always have a moment of panic when I realize I’m in the air haha
I had a thunderstorm takeoff flying out of Miami once. It was kind of scary because it was a night flight. The plane had electrical issues prior to takeoff which delayed us 45 minutes. The small ERJ felt like it was struggling to climb through the stormy air, gently rocking on the way up. All I could see was dark night sky and sideways rain until we got to altitude. The rest of the flight was uneventful.
Maybe the flight was overloaded. I know there is one airline that is notorious for overloading so their planes lift off relatively late but still safely. Edit: the name of that airline is Aerosucre or something like that.
Wow thats some incredible footage! - I honestly thought that the thumbnail was a little clickbait but how wrong was I ?! - Great capture, amazing footage :O
This was a decent thunderstorm, and some good turbulence as well. Of course, I"m from CA and 1-2 flashes per minute counts as a good storm for us. Nice video!
Thanks! This was my first time in the area so I wasn't sure how common storms like this must be, so it's cool that others are finding it impressive too
I remember there was a storm I saw that had a flash every 2-3 seconds - I didn’t fly through it but went out in it because I wanted to go to a rave - that’s how you know I was hooked on that scene
5:56 my god! Been a flight simmer for too long and I've never realized how wild this powerful invention looks like while breaking through all of these heavy clouds and showers..this is crazy!
Past 50 years I flew through hurricanes, typhoons and thunderstorms so many times. It is scary during the flight and big relief when you land. Now, I check the weather report and forecast before a flight.
The thunderstorm was not flown through, it was circumnavigated… you should never fly through one intentionally or you’ll get structural damage at best.
Some thunderstorms can cause structural damage, not all do. In fact, an average summer thunderstorm will not cause any damage to the aircraft. And the turbulence isn't the primary danger. Hail and lightning discharges a bigger hazard.
@@MidwestAeroGurus Especially summer thunderstorms can be extremely dangerous as they tend to have stronger up and downdrafts. Depends on the height you penetrate them. If you have ever flown in a CB anvil and not even the towering part, you would have an understanding of how dangerous penetrating thunderstorms could be. Fly directly through it and you get severe to extreme turbulence which means the aircraft enters an uncontrollable state.
@AndrewTit69 depends how far downwind you are in the anvil since that turbulence is from high speed winds that have been disturbed by the updraft in the storm cell. Generally, pilots and ATC try to keep planes out of those areas.
You heard about what happened on that braniff plane in 1968? The pilots did just that and the plane suffered massive structural failure and broke apart midair. Granted it was a Lockheed Electra which is a plane that didn’t have the best reputation, but even with modern aircraft I still wouldn’t do that.
I was on a flight that flew through a heavy thunderstorm much worse than this. There where multiple flashes every second, lots of rain and pretty heavy turbulence. When the aircraft had got through the clouds the turbulence stopped and you could see big flaschclouds on distance from above. And that was pretty cool. Wish I had filmed that.
but how is this and also what happened in this video allowed? how taking off in storms is allowed? shouldnt pilots delay and be responsible? how scared were you and other passengers on that flight? were the flight attendents scared?
Passengers overestimate the danger they are in. We would never fly through the centre, the towering part of a thunderstorm. If it appears as green and yellow on the onboard Doppler radar, we are usually safe to go through it. If the centre of the onboard weather image is an extended red or even purple, we are diverting around it, always one the side of the wind hitting the thunderstorm, never behind it, except in embedded weather systems.
@@RUNITED951 Even the smallest structural damage can lead to a lethal outcome, can be as simple as a loose bolt or a micro tear. That's why the airframe has to undergo extended checks and repairs for days and weeks after a suspected structural damage. Most of them occur due to hard landings, by the way.
Guessing the convective energy in the clouds during takeoff and just going up to cruising altitude - was up to probably 2,000 j/kg. Good enough for charge separation and resultant lightning.
That’s the wing lights, it’s main purpose is to increase visibility, due to the heavy cloud coverage and stormy/rainy weather, the pilots made the right decision to leave it on. ATC always keeps you updated with your altitude so you dont colide with other planes but pilots still like to have visual site of aircraft’s near them due to safety and sometimes wind from bigger aircraft’s can cause turbulences.😊
Flew out of atlanta to paris during a crazy t-storm maybe 10 or 11 years ago. Was pretty scary, i was taking shots of whiskey the entire time during take off
This flight video was awesome. It’s very rarely I watch a take off video this long and I watched it all. I had flown through a mild thunderstorm before and it was nerve wracking. This however was giving me anxiety and I wasn’t even there lol. I loved it though. It’s been awhile since I flew so the nice ambience lighting of Southwest’s blue light was nice. It really was pretty cool. Thanks for adding it.
Took off out of Paducah in 2013, the morning of the tornado outbreak on 11/17. It was storming all morning, so we knew the ride was going to be bumpy. Pilot got on the intercom and she said that is was going to be really bumpy on the way out, and that we would be turning right after takeoff cause we can't go through the storm. She wasn't wrong lol. Made for an interesting flight! And then our connection in Chicago, taking off out of there was kind of similar with lightning flashing all around. But the storm clouds were gorgeous.
Awesome video! Would you be okay with me featuring parts of this in my series Weekly Dose of Aviation? Of course you will be credited both in the video and in the description. Thanks!
That was pretty bumpy! I’ve been through similar flights out of Albuquerque, and for me the most disconcerting thing is flying through the clouds during a thunderstorm. it feels like the twilight zone.
Reminds me of landing in San Antonio the day I arrived at Basic Training. Came in on Southwest, huge thunderstorm on the final. Myself and the other recruits were sitting in the lounge chair aisle where we could face each other and have a conversation on the flight. Everyone was just staring out the window at the ominous sign of what was to come, though.
I remember a few years ago when I went on my first long haul flight and a couple of hours into the flight after leaving HongKong we flew past a thunderstorm at night and were at a safe distance away but to see the lightning from a different perspective was awesome.
I've never actually flown through a thunderstorm before, but it does look quite pretty with the flashes of lightning every so often. I'm a confident flyer so this wouldn't actually bother me. In my, realistically 700+ times I've flown, I'm still yet to experience this. I'd probably be the idiot in the back of the plane cheering whenever we hit an air pocket.
i took a flight from MCI to STL and we got out on the runway at MCI and the whole plan shut down, even cabin lights. No one knew what was going on and we sat on the tarmac hearing some rain hit the plane and it was very disconcerting. Pilot came on and said we'd be sitting there for 30 minutes as severe t-storm is moving into STL. However 5 minutes later they started up the plane and we took off. As soon as we got near STL the storm was still there and it was very wide and there was too much CTG lightning and wind to land so we went into a flight pattern around the airport for 30 minutes. There were 12 planes just circling the airport waiting actually. I was young at the time and the plane went through bad turbulance as it would shake almost violently, drop some and then dip, the lights in the plane kept flickering going on and off, the lightning was flashing continuously and made the plane light up and then shake once the thunder boomed I mean it was terrifying. Not one person said anything it was silent like a tomb in that plane but I got so sick and scared I yelled "we're all going to die" after the plan fell some and yeah. LOL! it really made me hate flying after that, I still don't like to fly. This video reminded me of that flight but what I went through was crazy. Anyways great video! Cheers.
As a retired helicopter pilot, I can relate to almost any weather flying post. One of the career highlights of mine was doing hurricane evacs from offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico back in the 80's. Yep, gets a little breezy but it's always nice to be done at the end of the day. 🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🦜
Ouaawww impressionnant , je ne sais pas quoi dire , avoir peure ou c'est beau à voir !!! En tout cas bravo pour votre courage que vous avez eu et que vous pouviez filmer malgré la tempête , mais je trouve que c'est bizarre ne pas avoir des turbulences durant ce vol !!!!!!!!
Do the pilots have weather radar on, watching the storm carefully and going around it? you should never go flying through a thunderstorm. It’s too risky.
Last June 2023, me, my mom, and my aunt’s friend embarked on a journey to Manila, Philippines (our flight was scheduled to be at 12:30 PM). However, our flight was delayed for like 2 hours and some of the passengers started complaining! I had this gut feeling that something wasn’t right. Then, the plane arrived at around 2 PM. But as we approached Manila, I saw thunderstorm clouds rolling in! As a person who is afraid of lightning and thunder, I felt my heart racing as I looked at those clouds! I also remember the plane “acting strange” (don’t know what it is called) so that the pilot could avoid the storm clouds. As we landed on Manila at 4 PM, we were advised not to leave the plane until the storm subsided. We waited for like 3 hours! It still haunts me until now
First time I ever went on a plane we took off at night in a storm just like this one. Fear's aside, I loved seeing the lightning even though the turbulence made me nauseous😅.
I had the same experience. We passed a place where it was raining. I was sleeping and woken up after the plane was shaking badly. When I looked at the window, we passed through the dark clouds and it was like disco like WTF? I saw the ligthning white and purple. Thunder was loud like the plane was being hammered. We went through 2 rounds of such turbulence and the 2nd was worse.
Thought at first, Mhhm, awesome MSFS2020 graphics mod, ..... until I realized, ok camera recording. But the sounds of the engines sound almost exactly the same as in MSFS2020 ;-)
Not the smoothest rides but once you climb above it, it doesn't matter, also, I've had to land (not a pilot) in worse condition, its freaking thrilling and nerve wrecking at the same time haha
I'm honestly surprised that they decided to take off amidst such stormy weather. Typically pilots err on the side of caution and either delay or find the quickest path away from the cells because of possible wind shear and other dangerous factors. But who knows what the state of safety is with Southwest. idk.
![[4K] Flying Through Thunderstorm / Takeoff St. Louis Southwest 737-800 N8575Z STL-TUL *Description](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
