Flying in the heat of the day, I see many dust devils rising several hundred feet in the air. It got me wondering what it would be like to fly through one. Anyone ever done that?

It seems to me that if it was strong enough to get you into an "unusual attitude" you would not have much time to straighten out before hitting the ground.

I did fly over one, about 2X the visible cone height, and got a very strong up-draft that lasted a few seconds, but no real turbulence.

Around here the dust devils are 5-20 feet in diameter, so even in a slow plane you would only be exposed for a small fraction of a second.

Inquiring minds want to know,
tom

A few years ago taking off from Akron, CO I hit one in my C-140 at about 150ft agl climbing out on upwind. It touched down just to the side of the runway and there was really no time to react, just enough time to see a lot of dust kick up. It only lasted maybe a second, but it was enough to put me in a 60° bank 20° off course and pegged the VSI in a climb, pretty much like the hand of God paying you a visit.

I looked back and watched it move across the airfield and it was maybe 50-75ft wide kicking up dust and trash.

Not something I want to re-live. Good question, I'd like to see if anyone else has experianced the sheer terror of flying through one.

If your on final and a dust devil pops up, I'd try to get that carb heat off right away (I turn the carb heat off when I have the field made on short final).

Also, what about any damage to the prop, and any other leading edges of the plane? I guess most of the time, dust devils are just dust. But do you think that dust devils can carry very small pebbles/sand depending on the strength of the wind?

My thought would be to stay away from dust devils if you can.

Don't do it no matter how you think it might feel.
My Dad and I did it in a 46 Taylorcraft around Winnimucca Nevada.
It turned the plane every direction except upside down.
Scared the heck out of both of us.

caveat emptor

Walt

The other thing too,and I"m not a rocket scientist. But isn't a dust devil basicly a mini tornado?

A dust devil is just a thermal lifting off, that happens to have some loose dirt of dust under it. They have similar cyclonic characteristics but lack the other atmospheric conditions that contribute to the size and intensity of tornadoes.

The ground heats up from sun, and a bubble of hot air lifts off like the inside of a lava lamp. They happen in WalMart parking lots too, but there's no dust to give them visibility.

If you catch them at the right altitude, they are great for a little climb, but down low they are scary and intense.

Don't fool yourself..these dust devils can get pretty big. Some of the largest I've seen have been along I-80 in NV and out on the plains in SD,ND, and NE. Sometimes they will travel for miles and get quite large and take dust several thousands of feet up. We watched one at JC this year high on the ridge west of the field. By the time Steve got his Highlander up to take a look it was mostly gone. I once saw one in North Dakota flip a combine on it's side. We have them all of the time on hot,still days. I really pay attention on takeoff or landing to look in the grass or the summerfallow where they might not be kicking up dust. Got hit by a small one landing at CDR several years ago....no dust because of the grass but it turned me 90 deg to the left and I thought I got the prop. Don't fool with Mother Nature. HC

I have flown through them enough times I couldn't begin to count while spraying. You get bounced around for a second or two, but I have never had any fear of getting smacked into the planet. In the turns seems to be slightly worse I assume because of the low energy state of the airplane, but going across the field the airplane is no big deal even a few feet above the ground.

I worry more about my aircraft on the ground when a dust devil comes across the airport. I have seen planes that weren't tied down get spun around and a C-150 get flipped over.

Locale undoubltly has a lot to do with intensity of the dust devil, my experience is mostly in the northern plains.

Great replies. I didn't think about crop dusters. I'll have to ask the crop duster I know about his experiences. I've driven through them in my van, and they didn't seem too wild, but it weighs 10000 pounds and isn't supported by the air. Me, I think I'll stay away.

tom

Oh yeah, I just remembered a short story from a book about Native American legends. It went something to the effect that you should not throw stuff into a dust devil because it may throw it back at you, only harder. While some of these legends are sort of sketchy, I think they are mostly based on real experiences.

tom

At my 2006 fly-in, we watched a dust devil come across a corn field (fall stubble) with a lot of trash in the air. It then turned my scout tail 90 degrees and rolled it backwards into a lake. Right after that it picked up two plastic deck chairs and dumped them into the camp fire!

I respect them.

Flying jumpers in the Sierra Valley of North east Ca in the summer there would be some really bad days that were full of them......seen them spit a parachute or ten out of them with none having a fun ending I treat them as a tornado(Small one) but still i think they should always be avoided unless you are in something fairly large.Even then proceed with caution...........been through a few in the 180 up high but that is up high where you can recover

did that once on powerline patrol. probably wont do that again!

Some years ago I was at the Reno Air Races and one of those homebuilt formula racers crashed killing the pilot. I was told that he hit a dust devil at high speed and received structural damage.

Now kiddies don't get your knickers in such a twist... dust devils are just another part of localized "micro-meteorology" that you have to learn about and understand. A dust devil is like a girl... sometimes it's the answer to your prayers and sometimes you'd better steer clear or you'll get your ass whupped.

The dust devil is a small REVERSE tornado.

A tornado is formed when a lot of heavy cold air is falling down (from a storm cloud), and starts to spin because of physics (called "conservation of angular momentum" by the science types). It spins so fast that it can sweep cows and trucks and even Dorothy's house off the ground.

A dust devil is formed when a bunch of warm lighter air wants to break free of the Earth's surface and rise upward, and starts spinning because of the same physics but in reverse (upside down). The dust devil spins the air around so fast it picks up dust, newspaper and leaves and spins a little tornado that rises upward. Sometimes a hundred feet and sometimes a thousand feet or more. A dust devil usually can't pick up a car or a witch riding a bicycle. But extreme ones can pick up a lot of water droplets and water vapor offshore, which is called a "waterspout".

If you are looking for smooth air, and straight/level flight, you don't want to go near either a tornado or a dust devil. But if you are looking for air that is going upward, a dust devil is a big "free prime rib dinner!" sign that is the answer to your prayers.

Those of us who have often been in the position to be looking for rising air (yes, I'm one of them... a sailplane pilot), go running toward dust devils as fast as we can possibly go, because the location and center of the rising air current is revealed. Pilots of low powered airplanes (Cubs, T-crafts, etc.) can make nearly as much use of a dust devil as the glider folks can. But you have to learn how, when, and why it works.

Like girls, dust devils enjoy making you crash and burn if you don't know how to handle them .

As for the "steer clear" part, that's really good advice on takeoff and landing, or when flying slow and close to the ground. Us glider trash knows how to do that, but you unwashed throngs of "normal" aviators shouldn't get too far into the down and dirty with a dust devil in general. The best possible solution is for you to get a glider add-on rating and get some practice flying dust devils in a controlled environment. You will be a much better power pilot and back country pilot once you do.

Sounds like you enjoy flying through dust devils close to the ground while going slow.Have fun with that.Hope it continues to work out for you.

No offense meant.

Since I have a fairly significant amount of experience flying around and through them, I thought I'd share some of what I know. In some situations, yes I have enjoyed flying through dust devils slow and close to the ground. Many times it has enabled me to climb away instead of having to land a glider somewhere int he back country that I didn't want to land.

There are of course many times I did not enjoy it, such as short final in a T-craft at West Texas airport in El Paso when a dust devil tried to throw it into the next county. Not recommended!

But the point I made is valid, My experiences learning to fly sailplanes and live with dust devils is what allowed me to regain control of my airplane and land safely without balling up a perfectly good T-craft.

A dust devil is the same thing as the mountain lee wave at Mt. Peavine, a "dead spot" behind a row of trees at the local airport in Kansas, or the huge downwash on the east side of the Sierras in a west wind, or the Washoe Zephyr in the Carson Valley in the afternoon. It's part of flying that needs to be understood instead of just feared or loathed. You're close to Minden and/or Truckee, go see the glider guys there and you will thank me later

I avoid them. I cracked my head on my canopy in my RV-4 when I flew across the top of one. Pegged the VSI needle on both sides of the meter in what seemed like less than a second. I have that one on film too. All you see from the video in the cockpit is my head flying up and hitting the canopy. Looks pretty funny now. Wasn't then.

A friend parked his RV-4 by the wind T to jump out a take a leak real quick because he was too lazy to drive to the FBO, tie it down, go inside and lift up the seat. He's watering the weeds and the next thing he knows the wind starts blowing and his RV-4 rolls around a little, and then flies straight up and lands on top of the wind T. Oops. He had to rebuild the RV-4 and the wind T.

Speaking of lift and rising air in general, I had a nice flight a week or so ago on the Portnuef Range, which runs right behind my place. After climbing up at much less then cruise power to the 8500' level and then tucking it in close to the ridge, 55 minutes of dead stick, 55 mph, with several 5 to 600' gains and one whopper thermal resulting in a 1200' gain. Glass smooth air pretty much, just little bumps on entry. I've flown this area, for 30 years now, starting in hang gliders, so know it pretty well, but was still a little suprised as it was late (5:30) in the day, and only 10 to 12 mph on take off. It got a little chilly at one point, so like a dummy I pulled cabin heat, and waited.......! Luckily my Sirius tunes are not off when the master switch is. The S7-S did pretty good considering the recently installed 26" Airstreaks and swiss muffler aren' seen on many motorgliders.

Crazy dust devil!!