Date: 201206
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Weather elements / visibility: Thunderstorm; 5
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: M-20 Series Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operator: Personal
Operating under: Part 91
Flight plan: None
Mission: Personal
Flight phase: Landing
Airspace: Class D ZZZ
ATC / advisory: Tower ZZZ
Reporter organization: Personal
Reporter function: Pilot Flying; Single Pilot
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Human factors: Situational Awareness
Anomaly: Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Detector: Automation Aircraft Other Automation; Person Flight Crew
When detected: Taxi; In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Contributing factors: Weather
Primary problem: Weather

Narrative: I was flying VFR to pickup my daughter. I received a full VFR weather briefing just prior to departure which contained no Sigmets. The forecast was VMC for the entire route. Mention was made of some convective activity near ZZZ; but this was not expected to affect my route of flight. En route I had access to XM weather and SkyRadar. One hour prior to my ETA I noticed a large cell with level 6 activity within. My judgment was that I would arrive at my destination well before the bad weather. I made some preliminary plans for an alternate; but as I approached within 20 minutes of my destination I thought I would have an uneventful arrival. ATIS was reporting winds 280 10/gusting 14 with a broken ceiling at 5;500. Approach Control and Tower casually mentioned the weather but there was no sense of urgency concerning the developing situation. I was wrong. On a 2 mile final lightning struck the field. As I rotated to land; a large microburst was observed on the airport and wind gusted to 40. By this point I landed and started to taxi to the Ramp. Rain and wind became torrential and the aircraft started to weather vane on the taxiway. I maintained appropriate control inputs and made it to the ramp where I turned the aircraft into the wind; kept the engine running and maintained full forward yoke; full nose down trim. At times wind gusted to 55 KTS. The Nexrad display was displaying level 6 returns over the field. The rainwater on the ramp had whitecaps. Tower did a great job of keeping me informed of wind direction and speed. I 'flew' on the ramp for 20 minutes before the winds let up. I taxied to the line and got tied down. Line personnel during this episode had taken to a tornado shelter; a glass door was broken at the FBO and ceiling tiles were lost. A Cessna 172; unsecured was flipped over on its back at the height of the storm. A large helicopter that was tied down was freely weather cocking. My airplane was not damaged.I have always considered myself a cautious; non-risk taker. I have not hesitated to deviate in the past when weather was dangerous. I am ashamed of my judgment during the conclusion of this flight. There were several factors that led to my decision. A few weeks prior I returned from a trip and encountered a large cell about 20 miles north of my home airfield. I landed without incident. This season I've flown VFR around large cells without encountering turbulence. I recently acquired additional Nexrad instrumentation for my airplane. I also have a Strikefinder. I had a false sense of security about the weather that led me to make a tactical decision inappropriately. I could not believe a convective cell could move that fast. I am unfamiliar with Mid West weather. My personality is heavily goal directed and I let myself believe that I could complete this flight to my original destination. I should have been talking to Flight Watch to get real time data about the direction and velocity of the cell. In the future I will not hesitate to talk to Flight Watch and give wide berth to Convective Activity.




Synopsis: M20 pilot reports landing just before an approaching thunderstorm then having to 'fly' his aircraft for 20 minutes in torrential rain and 55 KT winds while sitting on the ramp; with the engine running.