When the heavens open...

I can see the CB drift in as I prepare the aircraft, willing the ground staff to get on with it and allow us to depart early. The huge mass of very dark, almost black cloud is slowly but steadily moving towards the airfield.

...

I call for pushback clearance as the first drops are starting to fall. This will be tight. In the 3 minutes it takes us to push, start the engines and get the checks done the few drops have turned into a steady shower. Tower has just reported a 180˚ change in wind direction, and the intensity is increasing rapidly. Taxi please.

We reach the holding point, #2 for departure. The departure path looks very unpleasant. A company 320 backtracks the runway from the far end where it had been almost ready to go before the 20kt tailwind appears. Just as it starts to roll the heavens really open up and the visibility drops to 2000, 1000 then only 500 meters. That's 500 meters in RAIN. The plane is shaking from the power of the gusts and I feel like I'm sitting in a car wash.

...

20 minutes later it's still raining hard. 2 aircraft have gone around, one has diverted, there are 3 of us on the ground waiting to depart. The rain eases slightly and the other side of the airfield reappears - the visibility is about 1-2000 meters now. Side ways glance, nod, and I call ready.

Lining up I can see maybe 1/3 of the 3000 meter runway. Not a lot but well above our minimums. The runway looks like a swimming pool. Take off.

Hundred Knots! I think to myself that I can't really see much runway at all - the rain is completely defeating the wipers which are frantically flapping up and down and outside is just a blur of grey with some light either side.

Vee-one, rotate! Thank goodness we are flying now - no runway edge to worry about, just the menace of downdrafts and windshear. With TOGA power set and the gear stowed away the rather light 'bus powers into the sky.

...

5 minutes later we are at FL140, 20 miles from the airport and the sky ahead is a clear summer blue with only a few little clouds here and there. The muscles in my legs start to loosen and I stop squeezing the side stick. Captain K is also looking a little more relaxed now, the take off was bad enough for me as pilot monitoring - actually keeping the bus on the very badly lit runway (which we couldn't see) in a 20 knot crosswind (which we could feel) can't have been much fun.

...

Landing at destination, only 100 miles away, is in CAVOK weather. The return leg is only slightly bumpy and by the time we're back the monster CB, 50 miles by 30 miles, has gone to play elsewhere. I see the runway at 12 miles and grease a landing on what is now only a slightly damp runway. Yet another day in the topics.

S.