Why are cumulonimbus clouds dangerous?

Cumulonimbus clouds, often referred to as "CB", can be some of the most dangerous clouds we encounter as pilots. It's important to know what's in these clouds, what makes them potentially dangerous, and what to do about them during flight.

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[lucabetti]

When i was around 10 or 12 years old, we were flying from Rome to Caracas over the Atlantic, we dropped height twice due to airgaps, the first time was 1000ft drop and the second one was about 600ft drop. Years later casually playing wow with friends i talked about that experience with a pilot in my guild and he told me he also was on that flight as second officer, what are the odds... Basically a Cumulonimbus was forming and the Captain gambled to fly over it instead of modifying our route, and an airgap threw us down for a 1000ft (ive always thought they were 1000 mt but i really had no clue about metric sistems and i dont want to exagerate something thats already terrifing with the smaller mesure). The funny thing was that a lot of people got injured in the back of the plane due to luggage flying from the closed baggage doors wich split open, so the crew was in a hurry to arrive at destination... soooo a couple hours later we encounter the formation of a second cumulunimbus and the captain decided to gamble again, what are the odds that it will happen again right? we dropped another 600ft (as before, i remember mts but hey), long story short, we were welcomed to an airport filled with ambulances and medics, luckily we were not in the tail of the plane where the big dmg ocurred. It was cool all those years later learn from first hand experience all about that ''adventure'' and about cumulunimbus and how clueless we passengers are on what is really going on...


p.s. the captain was fired on the spot after this encounter

[BladeOfDespairr]

So in short, flying through a cumulonimbus is like entering hell

[IvanIvanov-veti]

I'm delighted by the professionalism and the interesting way in which you described those type of clouds - CBs.
You've just earned a new subscriber.
Keep it up! :)

[karun]

I flew in once during take off roll, entered the strom around 20 miles north of airfield FL 800, The thunder hail and the heavy rain coupled with aircraft being pushed up and down due to up and downdrafts lasted for over 15 mins, the fuselage lost a lot of paint on the outside.

[jaimibingley]

Wow! I didn't know flying through my favourite clouds can pose risks except for small aircraft and of course being struck by lightning and the severe turbulence within them. Cumulonimbus has been and always be my favourite cloud type. ✈☁🌩⛈

[PureGlide]

If you're in a fibreglass aircraft, like my glider, or carbon fibre, it's well worth avoiding lighting. It tends to make composites explode a bit :)

[zzjinxme]

this is what i learned in science class and we watch a video of a guy going through a Cumulonimbus cloud and that guy luckly survived and he said ´´the hail was a size of a golf ball!´´

[pritamguha]

You are making videos nicely. Our great exhibition will be started soonly. So that's video will be helped to me. Thank you very much

[mikelpg]

Nice video, congratulations from Spain

[rob.ale]

Hello, i really appreciate the video. Can you please also create a video with 6 reasons why you should fly in cumulonimbus?

[paytonsamuels]

I know when I see Cumulonimbus clouds, I know something bad and scary is about to happen

[aidenaviation]

During the summer i usually go to Florida with my family and quite a lot of the time I see these clouds on landing and I have no idea why it’s always there

[jacobchai]

0:32 "learning what not to fly into"
Yeah don't fly into anything. Some clouds are bad, buildings are worse. Yeah just dont fly into anything. No point.

[Yah-Izoa-Hakaboth]

Are you a meteorologist? You definitely know a lot about weather!

[heroknaderi]

Very amazing information ℹ️ I enjoyed it 🤩😎

[lakeseminole]

What about other typical clouds in the atmosphere? Is it ok to fly through them? Is it smooth?

[onthemoney]

Thanks good info gliders use small ones for lift I believe 👍 more vids on weather please

[seth]

I learned this the hard way. Lesson learned.

[gingersam]

A clam, clear explanation that even a 5-yo can understand.

[SabrinaBraden-nn]

Another good point about weather is, weather radar can have a 5 Minute and more update delay time, so what your current screen shows may not be dependable.