Lightning…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Lawdog got me thinking about lightning and lightning strikes with THIS post…

One of the problems with aviation, is you are up there WITH the lightning, especially when you are flying operational aircraft and don’t have the option of dodging the weather like commercial airliners do…


I did a post a long time ago about a rescue we were involved in that caused us to have to fly into the back side of a hurricane, and the ensuing lightening damage we took.


The pictures below are a similar result to a P3 that took place a couple of weeks ago…


This picture shows the damage to the left side of the radome and ensuing fire in the radome, most probably caused by shorting out of the radar and the hyper expansion of the air due to heat (which may have also caused the rupture at the join in the middle of the radome). The thing sticking out the side of the radome is one of the struts. The straight ‘line’ above the split is one of the lightning wicks built into the radome to channel the lightning and keep this from happening (supposedly)…

This picture shows a nose on view of the radome, and the split down both sides right on the join line. Also, note the melted copper just above the ruler tape. It got a ‘hair’ warm right there…


The depth of the ‘dimple’ was about a foot, and of course the forward radar was inop from the initial strike on. NOT a good thing when you’re trying to penetrate bad weather, trust me on that one…

The crew also reported ball lightning coming through the tube and out the back. The 9 inch static wicks on the airplane were burned down to stubs by this strike….



THIS is a halfway decent little video on ball lightening, one thing I will say, it DOES have a charge and is repelled by other electrical systems.



But the old Orion brought the crew back, just like it has many times before…


And HERE is an explanation of St. Elmo’s Fire, and a pretty good little video about mid-page on how lightning occurs. St Elmo’s Fire is seen many times by pilots as a green flickering on the windscreen as they fly into clouds or near thunderstorms.


Now back to the regularly scheduled BS… 🙂

Comments

Lightning… — 15 Comments

  2. Hope you don’t mind, but I’m skipping the educational lightning video.

    Having had 2 houses struck by lightning as a kid (one when I was home alone), the stuff just freaks me out too much even now. It makes me want to crap my pants bad enough from down here…I sure wouldn’t want to be in a plane in the midst of it.

  4. I read your blog all the time and would have to say it is my favorite. You are always right on in your comments.

    I have some experience with ball lightning or the lack thererof. Back in the 80’s I was hired by Smithsonian Magazine to go to Wendover, NV to photograph a guy who was working on a government grant (that should be a clue right there) to recreate Nicola Tesla’s work in creating Ball Lightning. Tesla could reportedly create Ball Lightning at will, and this guy was working from Tesla’s notes (which were written in Croation). He had been working for years (remember the government grant) with no success, but had convinced the Smithsonian that success would be forthcoming soon. He was working in an old hanger at the AFB, (had something to do with the bombs dropped on Japan). He had constructed a HUGE Tesla coil inside the hanger. The primary coil was about 150 feet in diameter, and was wound on 4 inch plastic pipe supports. The secondary was about 10 feet in diameter, also wound on 4 inch pipe supports. While I was there, he succeeded in setting some of the supports on fire ( actually that was his assistant and I who set them on fire), but no ball lightning.

    After several days, I called my editor and told her I would be happy to stay till the mag ran out of money, but I couldn’t guarantee results. They sent me home.

    I have heard that in the 25+ years since, he has actually made ball lightning a few times, but I have no details on that.

  6. That is something I’ve been fortunate to miss. I do have a story about a F4 ferry flight over a Typhoon betwixt the PI and VN that got…exciting.

  8. ADM- I try…

    Snigs- Understood.

    Hank- Thanks, and an interesting story! And yes, some scientists spend a lifetime on ONE thing…

    WSF- One of the many that I did 🙂

    Crucis- At least you could get OVER the damn things… we had to go through the middle! The one bright spot (other than the flash of the strike) was we didn’t see any of the damage until after we landed…LOL

    Fuzzy- Thanks

  12. EL- In 40+ years of flying, I’ve only been hit by lightning 4-5 times. It’s not as bad on commercial cause they dodge 🙂

  13. Damn that is a scary pic……. I was once on a plane that got hit by lightening, we could see, hear and feel the strike. I started praying. we had great pilots and landed safely. I still though, hate flying through them.