• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Plane damaged by hail makes emergency landing

What Jeff is saying is that it's really not possible for downward air to move 12,000 feet in 60 seconds at that level.
 
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1889/history/20150807/2130Z/KBOS/KDEN/tracklog

The flightaware track is pretty clear: The aircraft descended at the reasonable rate of about 2000 feet per minute. This was an intentional descent initiated after the hailstorm. The aircraft had to descend into Denver and it would be quite reasonable to distrust the integrity of ones windshields after that. I don't know where the 12,000 fpm quote started, but like most generic media reports on aviation, is clearly wrong.
 
OK, obviously the aircraft in this article did not descend as fast as the media reported. But it is possible for an aircraft to descend that fast...

http://www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de/publications/Incidents/DOCS/ComAndRep/ChinaAir/AAR8603.html

According to this accident report, in 1985 a commercial airliner descended at a rate of 18,745 feet per minute. The aircraft experienced a peak force of 5.1G, causing damage to the plane. The plane landed safely and amazingly only 2 people were seriously injured and there were no fatalities.

"Between 1014:50 and 1015:23, the DFDR recorded a 10,310-foot descent to 30,132 feet." -- That's a 10,310 foot descent in only 33 seconds.

"Between 1015:23 and 1017:15, the airplane descended from 30,132 feet to 9,577 feet." -- That's a 20,555 foot descent in only 1 minute and 52 seconds.
 
Man, that is quite a plunge(Scotts link, not the DAL A320). 5.1G pulling out of that dive? In a 747. Good thing Boeing makes good planes. Transport planes are regulated only up to 3.8G if I remember correctly. Look at that horizontal stabilizer!
 
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