{"id":198119,"date":"2025-04-22T06:18:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T06:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/airline\/video-of-a-downburst-air-transport-safety-articles-by-shem-malmquist\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T06:18:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T06:18:23","slug":"video-of-a-downburst-air-transport-safety-articles-by-shem-malmquist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=198119","title":{"rendered":"Video of a Downburst | Air Transport Safety Articles by Shem Malmquist"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

By Captain Shem Malmquist<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0previous article<\/a> I discussed the need to tilt the radar higher when in the terminal environment in order to be able to paint the area of the storm where the threat is present.<\/p>\n

Today, courtesy of the Memphis ARTCC Center Weather Service Unit, an excellent visual of the situation was presented. \u00a0Here is their description of the event:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis cell was at the end of a long line of thunderstorms that reached all the way to eastern Kentucky. It developed just south of the Mississippi\/Tennessee stateline in northern DeSoto County. The resulting outflow boundary caused a wind shift at MEM, forcing the control tower to change the landing and takeoff direction at the airport. This is just one of many ways that CWSU Meteorologists keep aviation customers safe from hazardous weather. (Images courtesy of GR2 Analyst).\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"NWS<\/a><\/p>\n

(Click the image above to start the video).<\/p>\n

This video starts as the downburst is already in progress, but notice that even though it already has started, the heaviest precipitation is still at almost 20,000 feet! \u00a0The bottom of the \u201cred\u201d is at around 10,000 feet still, but heading down fast. \u00a0If an aircraft were scanning at the typical 3,000-5,000 foot level, they would see just light rain! \u00a0Further, until that downburst gets lower and starts fanning out horizontally, there will not be anything to trigger a windshear alert from ATC or an airborne Windshear Detection System. \u00a0If a microburst alert system is installed it will trigger an alert for protected runways within the alert area.<\/p>\n

This is why it is vital that pilots adjust the tilt upwards enough to see if there is anything up there that is about to head downhill. \u00a0How far up? \u00a0If you are within 10 miles, you will need 15 degrees to just get to 15,000 feet\u00a0at the 10 mile range\u00a0(note that is STILL below where that heaviest precip is at the moment this video started, and the heavy precip was likely higher a moment before). \u00a0Closer in and the radar beam will not even get that high (recall the tilt formula, 1 degree is approximately 1,000 feet at the 10 mile range, so just 500 feet at the 5 mile range).<\/p>\n

Have autotilt? \u00a0Remember, the engineers that programmed the autotilt had to base that on assumptions they were provided in the requirements phase of designing the algorithms.\u00a0 Those will always be somewhat generic, ranging from a \u201cone size fits all\u201d approach to \u201ctypical\u201d models that are specific to a region.\u00a0 \u00a0The real world is dynamic and does not always cooperate with our assumptions.\u00a0 This is where you come in.\u00a0 As pilots we can adapt our methods to the real world, not the world imagined from a cubicle somewhere.\u00a0 That gives us an advantage over even the best engineer when it comes to the actual situation we are encountering.\u00a0 \u00a0If you depict altitudes, utilize them to view the storm at the higher levels as well. \u00a0New system without a tilt control? \u00a0It will show you areas of return \u201coutside\u201d of your flight path in some manner (depending on the system), such as a hashed return. \u00a0Just remember that a storm that has more water above than below is a bad situation!<\/p>\n

Utilize ATC. \u00a0Controllers have a lot better picture of the vertical development than you do. Tilt the radar upwards and see what is there. \u00a0This is not to say that you should leave it there, but you do need to see what is heading down towards you. \u00a0If there is heavy precipitation up high and less below, there are not many scenarios that can lead to that. One is a downburst, another is virga, and the third is hail (if you can think of more, let me know!). \u00a0In any event, heavy rain up high and less below is not something that is likely smart to fly underneath!<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

\"aoa-book-image1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAbout Shem Malmquist FRAeS\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tB-777 Captain. Air Safety and Accident Investigator. Previous experience includes Flight Operations management, Assistant Chief Pilot. Line Check Airman, ALPA Aircraft Technical and Engineering Chairman, Aircraft Performance and Designs Committee MEC Chair, Charting and Instrument Procedures Committee, Group Leader-Commercial Aviation Safety Team-Joint Safety Implementation Team (CAST)-Loss of Control-Human Factors and Automation, CAST-JSIT- Aircraft State Awareness. Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, full Member of ISASI, AIAA, IEEE, HFES, FSF, AFA and the Resilience Engineering Association. I am available for consulting, speaking or providing training seminars to your organization. Please contact me at https:\/\/malmquistsafety.com\/for inquiries.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Captain Shem Malmquist In a\u00a0previous article I discussed the need to tilt the radar higher when in the terminal environment in order to be able to paint the area of the storm where the threat is present. Today, courtesy of the Memphis ARTCC Center Weather Service Unit, an excellent visual of the situation was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12028],"tags":[2236,13532,76317,29562,417,29561,5625,1236],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-198119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airline","tag-air","tag-articles","tag-downburst","tag-malmquist","tag-safety","tag-shem","tag-transport","tag-video"],"yoast_head":"\nVideo of a Downburst | Air Transport Safety Articles by Shem Malmquist - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=198119\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Video of a Downburst | Air Transport Safety Articles by Shem Malmquist - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Captain Shem Malmquist In a\u00a0previous article I discussed the need to tilt the radar higher when in the terminal environment in order to be able to paint the area of the storm where the threat is present. 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