No, this is not a piece about how people shy away from me at a party. Rather, it’s a review of best practices for how to handle thunderstorm challenges. A mid-summer flight with friend and CJ2+ owner, Kirk Samuelson, provided the opportunity.
We departed Colorado Springs (KCOS) on a late July morning for a return to my home base in Dallas. There were scattered TRWs on the departure, requiring deviations to the east. The CJ2+ has a wonderful tool for avoidance with its ability to climb quickly to FL450. The view from “on high” is a huge plus in that individual cells poking above that lofty level are easily discernable.
But Kirk’s excellent skills were about to be put to the test in the descent to Dallas.
“November three five eight kilo, an arrival change when you are ready to copy,” came the request from Fort Worth center. Arrivals from the northwest were shut down due to significant convective activity. “Cleared to AXXEE intersection and the SLANT 3 arrival to Dallas Addison.” We were being rerouted to the Northeast corridor arrival. In his pre-departure planning, Kirk decided to take some extra fuel. Now, he was pleased with that decision since the extra reserves reduced the stress of low fuel situations.
From the enclosed picture, it was clear that the weather surrounding Dallas was going to be an issue. Kirk advised center he was slowing to give us some additional cushion for the cells to move through. He navigated the Nexrad display and radar screens like a symphony maestro analyzing the intensity and movement of each thunderstorm. He monitored the digital ATIS for nearby Dallas Love, but he had another trick up his sleeve. He knew the surrounding airports had AWOS weather, which updates every few minutes, and he used his Airtext receiver to query the changing conditions through his iPhone.
It was fun watching him take advantage of everything available in the system.
But we weren’t home free yet. As we made the final turn on the arrival, a large cell was dead ahead. Kirk used the Collins radar on the Citation and made several requests to the controller to deviate. He had me remind our passengers to buckle up for the expected bumps. And he asked for direct to the final approach fix to avoid another cell.
When communicating with the tower controller, he asked for a wind check. He recalculated his landing performance numbers due to a wet runway, and he used CJP’s “Safe to Land” callout recommendations on the final segment of the approach.
We touched down on a slick runway in light rain after a real workout.
Fly safe.
