Simviation Forums

In reference to the recent AirAsia flight 8501 disaster, what is the distinct differences among weather patterns such as severe thunderstorm, typhoon and hurricane? I know that Hurricane Hunters flying mostly prop driven P3s go right through the eye of a hurricane without too much problem. Will an ordinary commercial jet survive the same feat? Also why when flying through a thunderstorm at high altitudes commercial jets prefer to go to a higher altitude rather than go to a lower altitude. Do commercial aircraft stay on auto pilot when going through extreme weather such as thunderstorms or do the pilots take manual control?

Typhoons and hurricanes are the same thing, just different oceans: Typhhons in the Pacific, Hurricanes in the Atlantic. Typhoons tend to be larger, since the pacific is larger, and they have more room to spread out and warmer water to absorb. Hurricanes form up off the coast of Africa and travel NW, Typhoons off the Americas and travel NW to Japan and Aisia. They are very large rotary storms with an "eye" in the middle of calm air. The air cirrent patterns are fairly complex, moving both in a horizontal (circular) and vertical direction at the same time.

Severe thunderstorms, on the other hand, are large (but nowhere near as large as either of the other two. The are primarily vertical storms, with air moving mostly up and down, and including hail, rain, and lightning, all of which are also included in the other two. Thunderstorms tend to form over land, and only last as long as they get energy input from the Sun and/or warm air below them thus lifting the air currents. They have strong upward traveling currents inside the cloudy area, and downward moving currents around the outside. Picture a fountain with a vertical coloumn of water in the middle and flaring out at the top, looking vaguely like a mushroom. They tend to be confined to much smaller areas than typhoons/hurricanes.

I can get into more detail, including pictures and diagrams, if you desire.
Pat☺