Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude; Deviation - Speed All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Weather
While operating Aircraft X [from] CVG; we had a severe turbulence encounter during climb to level off at FL300.  After departure; while climbing above 10;000 feet; we were informed by both Indianapolis Center and Chicago Center of potential light/occasional moderate turbulence along our route but that it would smooth out the further north we went. This seemed to match the weather charts provided in our flight package. One chart showed an area of forecast moderate as well as an area of moderate to severe turbulence to our East FL360/below and another chart showed our route through the West edge of a similarly forecast area of moderate to severe FL270-370. To my knowledge there were no reports of any severe turbulence; only the info passed by both ATC controllers mentioned earlier. During the climb we were given direct OXI (KNOX) which had us mostly VMC with occasional IMC during the early portion of the climb. The early turn also kept us well clear of some rain showers and turbulence we were painting on our radar to both our East and West. During the latter portion of the climb from 18;000 and above we started to encounter occasional light and occasional moderate chop. The higher we climbed; the more frequent the turbulence became with continuous light and still occasional moderate. As this persisted; I asked the First Officer; who was the Pilot Flying; to slow to turbulence penetration speed of 310 which he started to do as the turbulence again worsened to continuous moderate chop. Approaching FL280; the aircraft stopped climbing momentarily when we hit an apparent air pocket and made a momentary shallow 200ft descent before it resumed climbing. Once above FL280; between FL280 and FL300; we encountered what I assessed to be severe turbulence for 1-2 minutes where aircraft instruments became unreadable for a short time; airspeed varied +/- 20-30 knots above/below 310 and altitude appeared to vary +/-500 feet. Above approximately FL295; the turbulence decreased to light to moderate and we slightly overshot FL300 (cleared level off) by approximately 200ft (no call from ATC). As Pilot Monitoring; I called ATC and made a PIREP after we levelled off. Following the event; we did not notice any abnormalities with the aircraft and no injuries among the 4 crew; 3 deadhead and 1 jumpseat. Following level off and after some discussion of the event; we made a SATCOM call approximately one hour after the event to Dispatch to discuss the situation with Dispatch; the [Chief] Pilot and Maintenance. We got some great inputs from the [Chief] Pilot. All parties agreed that we should be safe to continue; which I planned to do; provided we did not discover any abnormalities related to the turbulence event. After having the Relief First Officer do a check of the main deck to verify the freight was secure and that there weren't any abnormalities; we elected to continue to destination with the remainder of flight being uneventful. Upon landing I made a logbook entry documenting this event IAW FOM 8.1.30.Recommend considering development of a severe/extreme turbulence encounter checklist for either the FOM or QRH which includes; at a minimum: assess aircraft status; assess crew status; verify security of freight (if able to access); notify Dispatch; make logbook entry and any other pertinent steps deemed appropriate. As far as what we could have done better; we could have possibly made additional turbulence inquiries with ATC requesting specific altitudes. In addition; we could have brought Dispatch/Maintenance/[Chief] Pilot team into the loop a little sooner.
B747-800 Captain reported severe turbulence and provided recommendations.