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Unsuspecting A300 flight crew was struck by severe turbulence at FL350. Short term vmax and altitude deviations result.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 847439 |
| Time | |
| Date | 200908 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZME.ARTCC |
| State Reference | TN |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | A300 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | None |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120 Flight Crew Total 8800 Flight Crew Type 2000 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 130 Flight Crew Total 19000 Flight Crew Type 4800 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Speed All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
While cruising at FL350; we were at or above a thin stratus cloud layer and in and out of IMC. We had the radar positioned with a -1 degree tilt and at the 60 mile range. We never saw any returns on the radar but we must have flown into a quick developing build up that was embedded in the cloud layer. We immediately encountered severe turbulence and our airspeed exceeded vmax by 15 kts. The captain took control of the aircraft and turned the autopilot off in an effort to not place any unnecessary stress on the aircraft and keep the aircraft wings level. However; we were not able to maintain our altitude and the aircraft climbed 700 ft above our assigned altitude almost immediately and then continued to climb and additional 200 ft before we could regain control of the ascent. We reported to ATC that we could not maintain our altitude an that we had encountered severe turbulence. Twenty seconds later we were able regain control and return to our assigned altitude.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Unsuspecting A300 flight crew was struck by severe turbulence at FL350. Short term Vmax and altitude deviations result.
Narrative: While cruising at FL350; we were at or above a thin stratus cloud layer and in and out of IMC. We had the radar positioned with a -1 degree tilt and at the 60 mile range. We never saw any returns on the radar but we must have flown into a quick developing build up that was embedded in the cloud layer. We immediately encountered severe turbulence and our airspeed exceeded Vmax by 15 kts. The Captain took control of the aircraft and turned the autopilot off in an effort to not place any unnecessary stress on the aircraft and keep the aircraft wings level. However; we were not able to maintain our altitude and the aircraft climbed 700 ft above our assigned altitude almost immediately and then continued to climb and additional 200 ft before we could regain control of the ascent. We reported to ATC that we could not maintain our altitude an that we had encountered severe turbulence. Twenty seconds later we were able regain control and return to our assigned altitude.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.