Weather emergencies
What to do about inadvertent icing, an embedded thunderstorm cell, and P-static, once you are already in it.
15 min read · IFR emergencies
After this lesson you can
- Describe the escape options for an inadvertent icing encounter and when to use each.
- Explain why the correct response to penetrating an embedded thunderstorm cell is to fly straight through, not turn around.
- Recognize the symptoms of P-static and the equipment that reduces it.
- Distinguish a genuine weather emergency from a situation better handled by an ordinary reroute or diversion.
Two very different weather problems get lumped together as "IFR weather emergencies": ice building on the airframe, and a thunderstorm cell you did not see coming. They call for opposite instincts. With ice, the priority is almost always to leave the conditions that are making it, by climbing, descending, or turning back. With a thunderstorm cell you are already inside, the guidance is the opposite of what feels natural: hold your course and fly straight through.
This lesson also covers P-static, a quieter problem that degrades your radios and compass rather than threatening the airframe directly, and closes with the judgment call underneath all of it: recognizing early enough that you are heading into trouble to still have good options left.
The rest of this lesson
- 1.Icing severity, and why the wording matters
- 2.Escape options for an icing encounter
- 3.An embedded thunderstorm cell: fly straight through
- 4.Precipitation static: erroneous compass, dead VHF, and St. Elmo's fire
- 5.Is this an emergency, or a diversion?
These 5 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the IFR track. Paid once, yours for good.
Key terms
Try to recall each definition before turning the card.