Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
I have never experienced Sever Turbulence near the ITCZ. Huge storms yes, stuff that does not paint yes, but a simple rule is to avoid it if at all possible.
Severe Turbulence will wake you up. I have been in Severe twice in my life and Extreme once. Recently as this year over CONUS going through the top of a non-painting building thunderstorm. We had been IMC for two hrs, and this thing came out of nowhere. Thank God we had everyone down. It still knocked a FA out of her seat belt.
I have had the same thing. Scary as all you know what. To say these pilots were reckless and deliberately flew through thunderstorms without waiting for facts are people that obviously not familiar with the operation of radar onboard aircraft. They have their limits!
AA