MajestyCopyright 2007, V1VrV2
This photo was taken northwest of Dallas. A line of wicked weather was moving through the DFW metroplex. From my vantage point fifty miles to the south, the tops of the storms, crimson-lit by the setting sun, looked almost peaceful. I think back to the times in my military flying career when we would circumnavigate such areas with no onboard radar, and therefore no clue. While flying in high cirrus, we'd often ask the controllers to point us in the best direction -- and since the controller's weather-radar depictions were primitive at best, we'd occassionally find ourselves skirting pretty close to monsters like this. These days, by comparison, it's relatively easy to remain clear of the big red and yellow blobs on a modern weather radar screen. The radar is only an aid, though. Sometimes, storms don't contain enough moisture to show up well on the radar, and you have to use your eyeballs, your gut feelings, and your experience to stay out of trouble. This is one of the reasons why there won't be autonomous, un-piloted airliners. At least in our lifetimes...
