Microburst

A microburst is a strong downward oriented wind usually associated with thunderstorms. These winds usually form within a cumulonimbus cloud that is mature and are often associated with heavy rain and perhaps along with hail. These winds can cause major issues such as crashes with airplanes during take-off and or landing. In an attempt to try avoid these issues many modern airplanes have instrumentation to gather data so the airplanes can try to avoid areas that might generate microbursts. On airplanes this is part of the Predictive Wind Shear (PWS) which is a warning system that collects information on wind velocity via radar to help identify wind shear which is present during microburst. This is just one tool.

Dr. Mike Witiw of our staff is an expert on microburst and has provided many technical papers on this and can discuss the impacts on aircraft.

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