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Rare lightning phenomenon captured in the sky during Hurricane Idalia evacuations
A rare weather phenomenon, in which lightning appears upside down, was captured by pilots as Hurricane Idalia approached Florida. The stunning footage of St. Elmo’s fire - a phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created in an atmospheric electric field - was filmed by pilots at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa on Monday 28 August. (www.independent.co.uk) More...
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Not even lightning. It's Saint Elmo's Fire or plain old static electricity on the windshields. Every time I get it I like to play with it. If you spread your fingers and quickly put your hand toward the windshield, you'll look like Merlin the Magician as the electricity jumps from your fingertips.
I used to see that all the time on research missions into hurricanes. Discharges like these are only generated when flying in the ice, and the airframe gets charged by particle impacts. The process is called triboelectric charging.
I did not screen shot it..the flight aware track of the NOAA flight on Wed night was crazy, that HAD to be a bumpy ride.
Took a direct hit In my F-4 in Nam. Took out everything. Made for an interesting flight back to Da Nang
Just when you think a journalist couldn't post any LESS informed of a story, another one steps up to lower the bar. Thankfully, those commenting here all seem to understand what is actually happening. The funny thing is, The Independent correctly identifies it as St. Elmo's fire... but then seems to have ZERO understanding of what it actually is. To call it "lightning" in the "sky" is like calling that bug splat on my car windshield a swarm of locust flying across the highway.
If nothing else, people on this forum need to realize that this is EXACTLY why you shouldn't believe every word of any article online. You don't have to be uniquely qualified to write an article on aviation, much less politics, world events, etc.
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Randy, your TDS is showing. What the heck does Al Gore claiming to have invented the internet have to do with Trump? Seriously, while I can assume you lead an apatheitic life, I also assume (being as you on on this forum) you can afford some mental health care (Granted, post Obama Care the US mental health care system is terrible at best. I know, watch some Jordan Peterson content on YouTube and try to HTFU. But, back to airplanes eh?
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