SR22 pilot reported an altitude excursion resulted when they encountered an updraft possibly from th...

Narrative:

My takeoff clearance from palo alto airport (pao) was to fly straight out on runway 13; remain at or below 1500 feet then contact moffett tower (nuq). Shortly after the airplane entered moffett airspace at 1500 feet; we experienced a brief period of severe turbulence and an updraft which forced the aircraft up sharply to about 1600 feet. I firmly pushed the control stick forward to get back below 1500 feet; but the airplane continued to climb a bit more. Then we hit a downdraft and all loose objects in the airplane went flying up to the ceiling. I reported the turbulence and altitude incursion to moffett tower. The controller said thanks; he would pass the information along.after completion of the flight; it occurred to me that the extreme turbulence may have been caused by exhaust from the large wind tunnel at NASA ames. There used to be a NOTAM to alert pilots to the wind tunnel but I had failed to check before the flight and I do not see one in the pilotweb system now. So; perhaps the turbulence wasn't wind tunnel related and was just due to the heavy and gusty winds that day.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SR22 pilot reported an altitude excursion resulted when they encountered an updraft possibly from the wind tunnel exhaust at NASA Ames Research Center.

Narrative: My takeoff clearance from Palo Alto Airport (PAO) was to fly straight out on RWY 13; remain at or below 1500 feet then contact Moffett Tower (NUQ). Shortly after the airplane entered Moffett airspace at 1500 feet; we experienced a brief period of severe turbulence and an updraft which forced the aircraft up sharply to about 1600 feet. I firmly pushed the control stick forward to get back below 1500 feet; but the airplane continued to climb a bit more. Then we hit a downdraft and all loose objects in the airplane went flying up to the ceiling. I reported the turbulence and altitude incursion to Moffett Tower. The Controller said thanks; he would pass the information along.After completion of the flight; it occurred to me that the extreme turbulence may have been caused by exhaust from the large wind tunnel at NASA Ames. There used to be a NOTAM to alert pilots to the wind tunnel but I had failed to check before the flight and I do not see one in the PilotWeb system now. So; perhaps the turbulence wasn't wind tunnel related and was just due to the heavy and gusty winds that day.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1398547
Time
Date	201610
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	NUQ.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	SR22
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 29 Flight Crew Total 1494 Flight Crew Type 522
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

SR22 pilot reported an altitude excursion resulted when they encountered an updraft possibly from the wind tunnel exhaust at NASA ames research center.