A question concerning the realities of flight and its simulation

[Neil G 2]

I have just bought Sim Physics and I have the Lightening F6. Today I took off from Coltishall in a thunderstorm and as I was trying to gain height through 3-8000 ft, and the first few layers of cloud, I was bobbing all over the place, rocking from one side to another. Eventually I came out of the thunderstorm and things became a little more steady. I thought to myself 'I really must turn down the settings on Sim Physics', but then pondered the question: 'Is it not quite realistic to be knocked all over the sky if your in a jet fighter - which is designed to be unstable - flying through a thunderstorm'. The problem is, of course, that I have no experience of the real thing. Just wondered what others thought.   

[amahran 608]

Here's a little tidbit to get you thinking: "A thunderstorm has sufficient turbulence and shearing vertical winds to rip a 747's wings clean off." (or so my flight instructor told me)

 

We're taught from day 1 to never come anywhere near a towering cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud, ESPECIALLY near the base where the vertical motion is at its worst. I've never tried it before, but I wouldn't be surprised if a jet fighter going through a storm was being tossed all over the place by the eddy currents in there.