Posted for "Halle, John" <JJHALLE@stoel.com>:

 It is certainly possible BUT:  Don't fly into no thunderstorms!  Airlines
regularly loose millions sitting on the ground (and annoy their passengers) to
avoid it.  I flew F-9s in the Navy.  You couldn't hurt them with a
sledgehammer but we once waited three days in Pensacola (trying to get to
Texas) because of thunderstorms.  Maneuvering speed is simply a theoretical
speed at which full elevator deflection will not stress the airplane past its
published g limits.  Slowing to that speed might help but offers absolutely no
assurance of continued structural integrity, to say nothing of the fact that
maintaining an airspeed, or any other flight paramater, in a thunderstorm is
an iffy proposition.  We have been flying for over 100 years and, where
thunderstorms are concerned, the only way to deal with them is the same as it
was when the Wright brothers launched:  Don't fly into them.  Ever.  It may be
technologically challenged but at least it is easy to understand.