Power of a Microburst- Air Force Academy

Friend of mine pointed me to this video. I thought it was interesting, showing the power of a low level microburst at the US Air Force Academy airfield. Couldn't think of a better forum section to put it in than aircraft projects. Should rename this section to just "Aviation" or "Aerospace" or something like that. Anyways, enjoy!

Microburst Vid

Wow, that's pretty incredible. I live about 10 miles from there and never saw it on the local news, which I think it's worthy! I do wonder how they "landed". My guess is they are completely destroyed but the video doesn't show it.

a reply to: JJRichey

Another good example is the Delta L1011 crash in Texas. The microburst wasn't immediately recognized, despite warnings from other planes ahead of them, and it pushed them into the ground.

Dangerous beats them is. They were lucky no one was killed in this incident. Great video though.

a reply to: Wookiep

Once they were flying then they were fine. They were waiting to take off with the gliders behind them when it happened. You can tell they were under control by watching the fourth one. There's no way wind made those corrections when it went airborne.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Makes sense, and good to know. Still a crazy situation, I wouldn't want to be in one of them...

a reply to: Zaphod58

No sounds here at work...did that first plane get blown into the air, or did he actually take off like that? It's rather terrifying to see planes stalling/barely producing any lift like that...yikes.

Sorry to play stupid not really in a position to search but I'm presuming a micro burst is a form of strong wind ?

a reply to: parad0x122

They were sitting still waiting for the gliders to get hooked up when the burst hit, and pushed two of them into the air. They weren't planning on taking off at that moment.

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

They're most common around thunderstorms, but can happen any time with the right conditions. It's a vertical column of air that spreads out in all directions when it hits the ground.

They're extremely dangerous to planes because they'll push them down, and if they aren't quickly recognized they'll push you into the ground. They're most common in low altitude phases of flight, but again, can happen anywhere. That's why airports installed doppler radar, to watch for them.

a reply to: Zaphod58

That's what I thought but I couldn't believe that they were affected that greatly. That's insane.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Even if i searched for the meaning of a micro burst I think you description is quite clear and probably a lot more informative. Would of looked myself but phones don't work so well when you have a shop lifter kicking off. Thanks for the reply

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

This is a representation of a microburst. It gives you an idea of why they're so powerful, and so dangerous.

a reply to: parad0x122

Microbursts are one of the most dangerous winds out there. I've seen them flip small planes that were tied down with rope before, as well as just pick them up and throw them through the air. These pilots were extremely good, and very lucky, especially the one that went down wind. You could see his wingtip drag when he first went airborne, and he had to do some fast corrections in the air.

Yeah I thought it was a pretty crazy video myself, and much skill must have been involved in saving those cubs. I would guess the USAF-A would hire pretty skilled tow pilots though, assuming its not just an additional duty to some new lieutenant.

Thanks for the replies!

This is what it looks like when you're not as skilled, or as lucky, and run into a microburst.

It's one of those equivalence rules of aerodynamics. A plane traveling faster than takeoff speed is the same as a stationary plane pointing into a wind blowing faster than takeoff speed. For small planes that's 55 mph to 65 mph.

Microbursts have wind speeds going beyond 170mph - enough to make a passenger jet takeoff.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I was going to say, thank God these guys knew what they were doing, because I have a feeling if this happened to a group of lesser experienced pilots this may not have turned out so good.

a reply to: JJRichey

Thanks for posting it!