(Araucaria) S. Atlantic WX where AF447 (Airbus330) went down

[Dirceu]

hello dear all,

included a link with a weatherchart for the S. Atlantic. The so-called "Inter Tropical Convergence Zone" with  a lot of Cumuli Nimbus ( thunderstorms ) clouds is clearly visible from East to West at around 5°N, typical location for this time of the year.

These clouds, showing like a "wall" of clouds on onboard WX radarscreens,  are sometimes very difficult to circumnavigate to get through. 

An aeroplane can be hit by lightning even if the thunderstorms are far away. This happened to me 2 weeks ago while approaching to land in Bogota, Colombia: we had a lightning hit on the nose ( not to be confused with a  static discharge because of flying in clouds ) of the aeroplane with no thundershowers visible on the screens. On the ground I found out from the local authorities that the nearest thunderstorm around was 52 nautical miles ( 90 km and  on the other side of the Andes mountains)  from the aeroplane's position when hit. Only damage was the radome ( nosecover  of the plane ) that was showing mini and ( micro ? )  penetrations and  had to be replaced.

This for your info.

Best regards,

Dirceu py5ip



http://aviationweather.gov/data/obs/sat/intl/ir_ICAO-B1_bw.jpg


http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/090601-air-france


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