[GMAs]

something even worse than lightening... HAIL...

War story.... We were coming back from a big storm out in the alantic... and we got a call from the Center asking if we would meet ATC over on a nother frequency... which we did.. as they mentioned that it was a small plane.. a cessna 337... that was having some problems...

We dialed up ATC and they gave us radar vectors to where the GA plane was ... our radar was painting a lot of returns.. with heavy ISO Echos... the wx officer was advising me which way to go.. along with the NAv... it got real bumpy and we started to see the Squal line ahead... but, what was more interesting was that the small GA plane had penatrated it and we kept getting lost returns along with ATC.. the only thing that they got constant was the Transponder sig... anyway.. we finally got up to where he was.. and was he in trouble.. Heavy cells all around almost like he was in the eye of a hurk... but, we stayed on the outside... talking to him was not very good as the static crashes were deathing on the ears.. and finally the WX and nav said the only way your going to get this guy out is to go in and give him a way out... as he couldn't climb over... I really didn't want to get into the storm as their was no reason for two of us to go down... as some of the up and down drafts were pretty wicked... about 1500 ft/min... but, what was worse we hit thermal areas that the wx officer said.. get ready for ICE... great I thought... this guy stumbled into this thing .. without a clue.. what he was getting into.. and should have stayed home... but, his wife was on the radio... actually could hear her better than him because of the higher voice... and she kept asking ... can you help us...

Ok... I finally gave in and call the center and said we were going to assist the small plane... did a fuel check and then let the crew know we were going to penatrate the wall... which we did... immediately we got lightening.. strikes all around.. and the area around the windows had a blue glow to them... and when you ran your hand down the metal parts you got sort of a buzz kinda static electricity... but, the herc was made to go into storms and pick up static.. the skymaster wasn't... now what we do is something a little different than what is taught in schools... I put my sunglasses on... yep the military sunglasses will keep ou from getting blinded by the lightening.. then next thing we do is brighten up all the lights that way after the flash.. you can still see.. something about the eye and its retna.. so I was led to believe... then we got hit... and you know you are because the flash is right with the sonic boom... kinda thing.. a quick check of the inst and engines and we keep going... now the co-pilot sits over their and keeps his eyes closed.. and not because he is saying his prayers.. but, because if I get blinded by the bolt.. he can open his and take over... most of the time he would keep his ball cap down so that only the inst pannel was visible and not the window area... you have to train for this stuff... its not something that you will find in a good book.. kinda thing...

So we finally got slowed down and came around the cessna... he was all over the sky... we gave him a heading to go to and told him to climb as high as he could... as the higher you go the less crud you will run into... the wx officer said ... hail at 3.. and we had him turn as the hail was falling from above.. it would be like rocks hitting paper... but, then we hit the rain... now rain is good.. but, rain that is about 34 deg and droping is not.. I got to look at the plane and I asked if they had iceing equip... when I got a what is that... I said swell... I told the pilot to climb as much as he could... as we went by him... we were at 140 kts.. he was at 120... so we kept haveing to make big circles... to stay with him... then lighting struck again... this time it appeared to be between us... but, the guy turned away.. back towards the downcoming hail... I called and told him to go back to the orginal course... and stay on it.. he said his dg was not working too well... I made the comment anything else that we should know... to myself... and told him to set it and follow it ... if it goes off I will advise him to reset... lucky later we found out it was really OK... but, he was trying to reset the compass heading... not something you want to do in a bad storm... as it will bounce around as well as swing towards the lightening strike...
See part II