St. Elmo's Fire

c172captain

c172captain

Well-Known Member
So I'm taking a Meteorology class and just learned what St. Elmo's Fire was and it has to be the coolest natural phenomenon I've ever heard of.

My question to the more seasoned pilots out there is if they have ever experienced it on their aircraft somewhere and what happened (was a lightning strike "imminent", as my book tell me it is? lol). Also, how common is it when flying in/around thunderstorms? Hopefully I posted this in the right section... maybe we should have a forum section specifically for Weather Related Phenomenons!

Thanks
 
Man did I have a crush on Ally Sheedy in the 80's!!
blush.gif
 
True ST. Elmo's fire no. I've seen the saab at night dissipate a lot of static energy on the windshield and on the props when flying near TS. Some guys say they have but when I ask them about what it looked like it all gets a bit hazy for them.

Personally I'm hoping for Ball Lightning first :)
Followed by flying jackalopes.
 
Ball lighting would be awesome, although I don't think there are ANY confirmed cases of it out there.

I've had St. Elmo's fire a few times. There is a decided difference between the windshield discharging and the St. Elmo effect you get when the whole windshield starts to looking like a purple dancing spiderweb.

On the RJ anyways the first place you start to see build up is on the windshield wiper attachment nut. From there it spreads to the windshield and if you are really building static the nose cone. One night heading from Charlotte down to Florida somewhere we had purple cones of energy coming off the wipers and then the nose started glowing and the captain (a wise old salt) advised that I keep my head down because it was about to discharge. I fortunatly took his advice, but even with my head down and my eyes shut, the subsequent flash was enough for me to see red through my eyelids.

Fun stuff.
 
BobDDuck said:
Ball lighting would be awesome, although I don't think there are ANY confirmed cases of it out there.

I've had St. Elmo's fire a few times. There is a decided difference between the windshield discharging and the St. Elmo effect you get when the whole windshield starts to looking like a purple dancing spiderweb.

On the RJ anyways the first place you start to see build up is on the windshield wiper attachment nut. From there it spreads to the windshield and if you are really building static the nose cone. One night heading from Charlotte down to Florida somewhere we had purple cones of energy coming off the wipers and then the nose started glowing and the captain (a wise old salt) advised that I keep my head down because it was about to discharge. I fortunatly took his advice, but even with my head down and my eyes shut, the subsequent flash was enough for me to see red through my eyelids.

Fun stuff.
Click to expand...
There aren't any confirmed cases.
But for a time Jets and Sprites were BS too. Now we know better.

Yeah I know there is a diff, I just haven't witnessed it on an airplane before. Someday I'll run across her.
 
BobDDuck said:
Ball lighting would be awesome, although I don't think there are ANY confirmed cases of it out there.

I've had St. Elmo's fire a few times. There is a decided difference between the windshield discharging and the St. Elmo effect you get when the whole windshield starts to looking like a purple dancing spiderweb.

On the RJ anyways the first place you start to see build up is on the windshield wiper attachment nut. From there it spreads to the windshield and if you are really building static the nose cone. One night heading from Charlotte down to Florida somewhere we had purple cones of energy coming off the wipers and then the nose started glowing and the captain (a wise old salt) advised that I keep my head down because it was about to discharge. I fortunatly took his advice, but even with my head down and my eyes shut, the subsequent flash was enough for me to see red through my eyelids.

Fun stuff.
Click to expand...

I can only assume that the discharge was the "imminent lightning strike". If that is the case, is inflight lightning almost a non-issue?
 
Not uncommon. With it dancing on the windscreen, you can take your finger and walk it around the window. It will center on your fingertip.

It can be amazing but it often plays hell with your radio. You can google the subject for both images and youtube videos.

Also, someone noted about the upper atmosphere red sprites and blue jets. Interesting info here. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap951111.html

What I did not know until last year is there are positive and negative lightning strikes. One leaves tiny holes and exits. The other knocks stuff off airplanes.
 
I think my favorite to watch this in is the Twin Commander. Sitting just in front of the props (and close at that). Not only is it dancing on the windscreen, but seeing the props glowing that close to you. Freakin' awesome!
 
c172captain said:
I can only assume that the discharge was the "imminent lightning strike". If that is the case, is inflight lightning almost a non-issue?
Click to expand...

Yeah. The static build up does mean that lightening is a possibility, but most of the flash/bang stuff you experience when moving through air like that is due to discharge rather than being hit by lightening. I've been hit before and it was nothing like when you build up static and it discharges.
 
Orange Anchor said:
Not uncommon. With it dancing on the windscreen, you can take your finger and walk it around the window. It will center on your fingertip.

It can be amazing but it often plays hell with your radio. You can google the subject for both images and youtube videos.

Also, someone noted about the upper atmosphere red sprites and blue jets. Interesting info here. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap951111.html

What I did not know until last year is there are positive and negative lightning strikes. One leaves tiny holes and exits. The other knocks stuff off airplanes.
Click to expand...
Nope. Positive and negative strikes simply mean one leads up from the ground and the other leads from the cloud. Impossible to tell without a high res video. Tiny holes vs: stuff falling off is a combination of many many factors having to deal with direct and indirect effects of the lightning strike. Intensity, material, point of impact, resultant failures of the metal, poor conductivity/bonding.

Generally speaking the less damage the less coulomb count. If you want more skinny on it:
SEA Documents and "The Book":
5412
5414
5416
DO-160C/D/E
http://www.lightningtech.com/d~ta/publications.html
 
BobDDuck said:
Yeah. The static build up does mean that lightening is a possibility, but most of the flash/bang stuff you experience when moving through air like that is due to discharge rather than being hit by lightening. I've been hit before and it was nothing like when you build up static and it discharges.
Click to expand...
Typically if you are building up high levels of static it means you are simply in an area of charged air.

Just because you build up static electricity doesn't mean you'll get struck in an airplane. If it happens on the ground you are pretty screwed. In the air there is a lot of insulation between you and the ground.
 
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