Let's try it in english again. This post: underneath the storm.

Hey, thanks for coming! These days there have been Cumulonimbus clouds everywhere, so having the weather radar on all the time and deviating of the route because of clouds has become part of the every day flying. It makes the flight even more interesting, really.

The other day we were flying from Cancun to Toluca. I was the pilot flying on that leg. Before take off we requested ATC to fly over the coast so our customers could have a very nice view of Cancun. They approved ir. Runway heading and climb to 2,000 ft. There we go! Engines stabilize, "take off". "MAN FLEX, SRS , RUNWAY, AUTO THRUST BLUE". We accelerate, light crosswind from the right, and at Vr while I start pulling the sidestick the baby starts to fly. Voilá.

Runway heading, "Thrust Climb, Alt Star". Levelled at 2,000 ft Cancun Departure clear us for turning to the left towards the City. Excellent View. Speed slightly over Green Dot. I repeat: the view was great. We turned left to Cancun VOR then we intercept the airway and climb to FL 360. Headwind all over the route. We level off and continue towards Toluca. We give an announcement to our dear customers who probably are happy for the interesting first part of the flight. Inflight I request by ACARS the latest METAR of Toluca. Everything looking good, only that in remarks: "PREFR". Mmm, pressure falling rapidly. In other words bad weather is on the way. Once I start setting up the approach I get the latest weather report. Pressure has decreased, CB's in the area and crosswind excpected for the landing. In the Performance page on the MCDU I set CONFIG 3, meaning it will be a Flaps 3 landing. "Good idea", says my Captain. We approach Toluca. It was true, CB's all over the area. After Tequesquitengo VOR we start being vectored to runway 15. We continue the approach. "Activate approach phase" and I recieve the answer "Approach phase Acctivated". Going on. Suddenly right abeam the airport a huge CB. Looks green and yellow in the weather radar. We will pass underneath the cloud. Few seconds later it looks red, yellow and green. Looks rain right in front of us (under the CB cloud). "Speed selected 2-2-0". The engines start to accelerate. "Perfect" says my Cap. A heavy noise in the cockpit now, that's the rain we are passing by. My eyes don't go off the PFD (Primary Flight Display) my right hand is still in the sidestick (as it has been since we passed 10,000 ft AGL) and the other one goes to the thrust levers. Everything looks good and suddenly the speed rapidly starts to go down "your speed, your speed, your speed" shouts the Captain I inmediatly set the speed to 240 Kt and my left hand gets ready to disconnect the autohrust in the meantime the engines start accelerating and our speed stops decreasing. We pass the cloud our speed increases. Wuufff... and we are not done! Toluca Approach turns us right to intercept the localizer. We are cleare for the approach. Flaps 2, Gear Down, Flaps 3, Landing Checklist. Cleared to land win 270º 15 Kt. Ok that's a crosswind and comes from the back. I turn off the autopilot, we continue the approach. "minimum" says the french guy I anwer "continue". Then he says "one hundred, fifty, forty thirty, twenty, retard, retard" I flare we touch down the spoilers go up the reverses engage and the decceleration is possitive. We vacate the runway and just and that was the adventure of the day. Nice day, really. Made the approach so interesting... Thanks again for coming. Take care!

Like it in english again? Do you preffer spanish? Please let me know, thanks!