Falcon 900 captain reported experiencing extreme up and down drafts while penetrating a weather syst...

Attributes
ACN	1369776
Time
Date	201607
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Falcon 900
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 13000 Flight Crew Type 5000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Using all available resources I was trying to navigate a place to get through a weather system. Using tilt and changing range; I found a hole to go through showing only rain. As the other pilot leaned over to check the arrival and approach sequence in both fmss; a pocket of turbulence hit and his arm hit the entire guidance panel located on the center pedestal. Every mode of guidance was knocked off. I lost 3 or 4 hundred feet and initiated a climb back to assigned altitude. Then; I hit another pocket and got an updraft causing another excursion. I rolled the airplane 90 degrees to keep from negative G's. I came back down. About 15 minutes later I was able to re-engage the auto pilot; yd; mach trim; on the other side. We managed the airplane back to [destination] for landing. Maintenance will be on it tomorrow.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Falcon 900 Captain reported experiencing extreme up and down drafts while penetrating a weather system. The Captain also reported being able to reengage autopilot after passing weather.

Narrative: Using all available resources I was trying to navigate a place to get through a weather system. Using tilt and changing range; I found a hole to go through showing only rain. As the other pilot leaned over to check the arrival and approach sequence in both FMSs; a pocket of turbulence hit and his arm hit the entire guidance panel located on the center pedestal. Every mode of guidance was knocked off. I lost 3 or 4 hundred feet and initiated a climb back to assigned altitude. Then; I hit another pocket and got an updraft causing another excursion. I rolled the airplane 90 degrees to keep from negative G's. I came back down. About 15 minutes later I was able to re-engage the Auto Pilot; YD; Mach Trim; on the other side. We managed the airplane back to [destination] for landing. Maintenance will be on it tomorrow.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Falcon 900 captain reported experiencing extreme up and down drafts while penetrating a weather system. The captain also reported being able to reengage autopilot after passing weather.