Narrative:

We had been flying around in some nasty weather with approaches to minimums all day. We were headed home and already late for prior maintenance. The tower reported 10 miles visibility and a 5000-foot ceiling. That seemed pretty good considering the weather we had all day. The only problem was the airport was behind some moderate rain and we could not see it; though we were in the clear. The wind was favoring runway 22 but the only ILS was to RWY4. We elected to shoot the ILS and circle to the opposite runway. We were given a 90 degree base leg and then given a 30 degree intercept. As we turned to join the localizer the aircraft banked and the radar painted the ground like it always does. I noticed we had just flown through the localizer. I turned 30 more degrees to intercept. Which happens all the time on this approach. At the same time we entered the cell directly in front of us; which was now showing heavy rain and contained moderate turbulence. It was very dark in the flight deck upon entering the cell and the only light I had on was my dimly illuminated six pack back lighting. The cell was only about a mile wide so thinking we would be out soon I configured for landing. The next sweep of the radar showed it growing and we initiated a go around. I called for toga power and started to climb. We encountered wind shear and the stick shaker went off. I pushed the power up and leveled for speed. The stick shaker silenced and I pulled some power out and it shook again. I again pushed the power up and climbed to 2000 feet retracted the gear and flaps and went around. We told the controller about the weather. We were vectored around about 10 minutes and the weather cleared. We came in and landed visually. The airspeed got slow as I kept adding power. That's when I knew we were in a heavy down draft. The stick shaker went off. That's when I knew I was way too slow. I had let my guard down as the weather was going to be the best we had all day. I let ATC fly me into some bad weather. I accepted a lousy vector and fixated on the CDI when the best course of action would have been abandoning the approach. I had the lighting off in the flight deck making it almost impossible to read instruments upon entering the dark cell. The radar paints the ground in the turn and when we leveled the bank we were able to see the weather clearly and it was already smack dab in front of us. I let the airspeed slow too much and took too long to react to the down draft. One at time each of these obstacles can easily be handled but everything happened all within seconds of each other; creating a perfect storm. Don't let ATC fly your airplane. Don't underestimate the weather. Remember the radar paints the ground in a turn. Ask for another approach if the one you're on isn't working. Turn on cockpit lighting before entering dark weather if that is what you must do. Go around at the first sign of wind shear.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Weary from a long day of flight in inclement weather the flight crew of a DHC-8 let their guard down a bit on their final approach of the day in comparatively benign conditions and flew into a lone cell on final with heavy updrafts; turbulence and windshear. During the subsequent go-around they received a stick shaker; recovered and were vectored for a second; successful approach.

Narrative: We had been flying around in some nasty weather with approaches to minimums all day. We were headed home and already late for prior maintenance. The tower reported 10 miles visibility and a 5000-foot ceiling. That seemed pretty good considering the weather we had all day. The only problem was the airport was behind some moderate rain and we could not see it; though we were in the clear. The wind was favoring RWY 22 but the only ILS was to RWY4. We elected to shoot the ILS and circle to the opposite runway. We were given a 90 degree base leg and then given a 30 degree intercept. As we turned to join the localizer the aircraft banked and the radar painted the ground like it always does. I noticed we had just flown through the localizer. I turned 30 more degrees to intercept. Which happens all the time on this approach. At the same time we entered the cell directly in front of us; which was now showing heavy rain and contained moderate turbulence. It was very dark in the flight deck upon entering the cell and the only light I had on was my dimly illuminated six pack back lighting. The cell was only about a mile wide so thinking we would be out soon I configured for landing. The next sweep of the radar showed it growing and we initiated a go around. I called for TOGA power and started to climb. We encountered wind shear and the stick shaker went off. I pushed the power up and leveled for speed. The stick shaker silenced and I pulled some power out and it shook again. I again pushed the power up and climbed to 2000 feet retracted the gear and flaps and went around. We told the controller about the weather. We were vectored around about 10 minutes and the weather cleared. We came in and landed visually. The airspeed got slow as I kept adding power. That's when I knew we were in a heavy down draft. The stick shaker went off. That's when I knew I was way too slow. I had let my guard down as the weather was going to be the best we had all day. I let ATC fly me into some bad weather. I accepted a lousy vector and fixated on the CDI when the best course of action would have been abandoning the approach. I had the lighting off in the flight deck making it almost impossible to read instruments upon entering the dark cell. The radar paints the ground in the turn and when we leveled the bank we were able to see the weather clearly and it was already smack dab in front of us. I let the airspeed slow too much and took too long to react to the down draft. One at time each of these obstacles can easily be handled but everything happened all within seconds of each other; creating a perfect storm. Don't let ATC fly your airplane. Don't underestimate the weather. Remember the radar paints the ground in a turn. Ask for another approach if the one you're on isn't working. Turn on cockpit lighting before entering dark weather if that is what you must do. Go around at the first sign of wind shear.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.