How Airplanes Create Lightning ( Pilots Interviewed )
Commercial pilots are intimately familiar with high voltage. From Million volt discharges across their cockpit windows, to purple coronal auras engulfing the front of the plane, they see it all. I’ve interviewed two of them, and compiled cockpit videos of all this magic. THANK YOU to both pilots for their time, and their footage!
CHECK OUT SNORRI’S KZhead CHANNEL ABOUT FLYING:
/ dabb
KZhead channels of other people who shared footage:
Geoglyphs - JNTravels @ / @jntravels4
First cockpit footage - PilotsTubeHD @ • 737 Jumpseat Takeoff &...
Freezeframe spark - 캡틴모세 PILOT MOSES
@ • 비행중 목격한 세인트 엘모의 불 St.E...
Epic lightning storm - KOSHKA @ • Heavy Thunder and Ligh...
Sailing footage - Sail Libra @ • Drone Libra Ep.1 - A c...
Cockpit side window - The Pilot Channel @ • Captain's view Breakof...
Stationary camera, static discharges - mightmkl @ • A weather phenomenon c...
My Van De Graaff build: • Insane 500,000v from r...
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I work on high voltage power lines and occasionally the tools in our hands will glow which rides a fine line between terrifying and amazing
If I would experience that I would call it terrifyingly amazing and amazingly terrifying.
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I need a video on this next lol
it would be amazing too see such things, could you share photos!
Oh wow. Thats scary! I've got a lot of respect for linemen and others in your line of work!
Former NASA avionics tech and aircraft electrician here. Awesome channel! I’d like to point out that the ground for the entire aircraft electrical system is the frame and fuselage metals. There are also lightning diverter strips (ionic channels) on the nose of the aircraft as well as static discharge antennas typically on the trailing edges of the wings. Also note that passengers are protected by the aircraft’s structural design that acts like a Faraday cage.
St. Elmo's Fire was a common sight during the age of sail. In fact, there was at least one recorded sighting during his first voyage to the Americas. The tops of the masts are perfect places for discharge. It probably still commonly happen on modern ships if they aren't manually discharged regularly.
I realised that you got a google knowledge panel a while back. So congrats on that!
Taking a shock for science. Don't try this at home kids
If you look at the control surfaces and wing tips, you'll see little fingers. These are actually Static Wicks, that force static discharge from these little points. This helps to limit the radio interference and protects sensitive equipment. My father (RCAF Flight engineer) flew for 30 years and has a number to St.Elmos fire stories, but the Ball Lightning was the most scary.
Blimps can accumulate enormous static charges due to the materials used in the envelope- they tend to be coated polyester or mylar so are insulators that can accumulate huge charges. So, blimps have a grounding chain that discharges the blimp envelope before ground crews grab the handling rails of the gondola.
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It appears that the earliest records I've seen saint Elmo's fire go back to about the 11th century. And it was seen often enough on Old sailing ships to be mentioned frequently. As a child that's where I first learned of St Elmo's fire. But the phenomena are not all that uncommon in various other places in our world. One day in a dry area of Eastern Washington along a river. I had been visiting family there shortly before. The park was a long a river and had lots of grass and trees. Suddenly, every sprinkler head in the park and all the drinking fountains took on that bluish purple glow. Moments later sheet lightning was all around me at about 4 ft above ground level. After Dusty weather with the beginning of higher humidity or light rain similar phenomena, they're called Corona, occur around pole transformers and insulators on our electrical grid. I have seen it illustrated at the Bonneville power experimental station. My father worked in the power industry for years and was aware through customer concerns and personal observation of this phenomena along power lines. But especially along high tension lines with their higher voltage.
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Cool. I thought the aquatic/sailing version was caused by bioluminescent microbes in the water that glow when disturbed. You can see it with night surfers in some places.
The fact you actually interviewed pilots, is very cool!
Wow, that’s amazing energy discharging. I’ve heard of it happening in northern latitudes like the U.K. to Iceland flights where you can also observe the Aurora Borealis. That was really interesting listening to the Iceland Air pilot talking about the discharge floating away from the aircraft’s nose. Great video Jay. 😀
It may have been repulsing away from its saturated plane body that had to many like charges which also suggests to me that electrons may have negative mass in certain environments! 🤔
my grandma was walking through a feild going home from school and her hair started standing on end and blue sparks were all around her!
Really ???
@@sureshm.s9158 she was not the type to lie about such things. when she tried to run from it, it followed her until she made it under cover.
Same thing happened to us early this spring. I told my sister we got to get inside before the lighting decides to smite us. We were videoing the storms. Our windmill tends to display this effect time to time but we are never able to catch it because low quality phone cameras.
Amazing, informative video Jay! Love the interviews. This is why I am and will continue to be a loyal patron.
Hey Justin! Thanks so much man. I had tons of fun with the video.
Wow! It seems there are many amazing natural phenomenon that I haven't still heard about! That's why I like youtube and love your channel!
I read about this in books but never understood what it was. Thank you for explaining!
I never hear about this effect before, incredible, nice video
Hi jay, so it seems to me that energy could be harvested on high mountains with thin long 50 -100 meter plastic ribbons streaming through the air attached to a electrode collector insulated from the ground with a leyden jar in series to the ground . Maybe a tap from here with a spark gap and then in to a transformer to create high voltage and high freq ac!
I’ve seen on KZhead that research is being done with graphine ribbon collectors at around 30m elevation. Very cool / scary with the high voltage!
Another awesome video! I really admire your job.
Thank you for posting this video.
very cool Video! The Visuals are amazing!
One of my dad's friend is (actual was) a pilot, and he has seen it some times. He even send my dad a video about it. It is only showing the lightning on the windows.
As usual, your channel is one of the most beautiful ones on the interwebs.
Fascinating stuff, of course. Enjoyed this video 😊👍
Once when I was outside to photograph lightning I saw the tops of the nearby power poles on the bolts start to glow. Then a lightning strike happened a ways off and the glow dimmed, then started to brighten again. I moved indoors. :)
Such a fascinating video, it's a shame it still has less than 10K views after a week, especially considering your channel's size! Thanks for putting this content out there, those interviews take commitment!
Thank you LabCoatz. Yes, the video was a total flop, which really sucks. Glad you enjoyed it though.
I’m glad it’s not just me! I looked for video of this phenomenon, and never got a good look at it in anything I found.
I don't have notifications turned on but I got this video in my subscription feed, which I check every day.
It would be great if you did some content on different types of electrical discharge like different types of lightnings and the lichtenberg effects !
I LOVE YOUR CONTENT!! THANKS I'VE LEARNT SOMETHING NEW TODAY
Awesome Jay! ❤️
Bravo! This short and fun video was 1000x more entertaining than the actual movie St.Elmo’s Fire from the 80’s. And it had an all-star cast. Crazy.
I once heard a sound like from a plastic bag coming from my lines while kiting. At first I couldn't figure out what it was, the weather was good and it stopped while lowering the kite. A view minutes later, a thunderstorm drew. What I heard was probably static discharges form the sky to the ground.
We got a Ben Franklin up in here
@@gerarddip yeah, without even realizing it :-)
ive never seen that but watching the sunrise in a cockpit is pretty mesmerising.
Hey Jay, just finished the video. I actually asked my mom about this since she was a flight attendant for years with Delta. She said she did see it up front at the nose of the plane when she would give the pilots some food and drinks. This is pretty cool and I have not seen this kind of thing in person before but my mom has. This is pretty cool :)
SA, that's amazing! Seriously jealous that she got to see it.
@@PlasmaChannel Yeah, she said it was pretty fascinating to watch.
Finally found a good video on this topic ... and that even in your channel ... good job ...
Glad you enjoyed!
@@PlasmaChannel yeah ... it was really informative ... :)
You let us know a lot. Thank you
Yey.... Finally another high-voltage topic..... :-)
I have some photos and video of this. It doesnt always happen close to CBs since we avoid them by a wide margin. Often it is related to just passing through certain types of cloud which retain a charge. Its hard to take either video or pictures since it can only be seen at night and the camera focus on the windscreen is not very accurate in the dark. To get a photo is especially hard since you dont know when the discharge will happen.
I think the topic of Whistler Waves is absolutely fascinating, the radio demonstration had me hoping you would delve into it. All I can say is imagine being a wire operator in the nineteenth century hearing these (whistlers) while operating the spike.
Your videos are very interesting
Ancient mariners used to report a similar phenomenon, but as I understood it, it was more of a greenish color. They often ascribed supernatural properties to it, both good and bad, but mostly good. That's how it got it's name, as St. Elmo was the patron saint of sailors. Great video as always my friend! Blessings!
Well you have shown us the phenomenon so its no longer only seen by pilots anymore
I have only been on a plane 4 times but one trip I was sitting just in front of the wing and we were powering up for take-off. I looked out my window and saw a very long discharge from the engine to my window edge. Other people gasped but I said, wow -cool! lol Anyway, great and very interesting video Jay.
Hi love your videos
Can you do an experiment comparing plasma formed by detonation vs explosion? My interest is piqued by oblique wave detonation at the moment. Awesome video!
I got caught in strong winds near a large thunderstorm. Luckily, i had dropped my sails but all the rigging started to buzz. I am sure if it had been night time i would have seen the glow.
Ive seen St Elmo's Fire from the cockpit. Also it ABSOLUTELY negatively effects comms! In certain clouds there is just a constant static on UHF channels. Even when visible discharge is not present.
St. Elmo's Fire has been described for hundreds of years. With the folks I imagine you roll with, I'm surprised no one'd heard of it before.
I wonder if the phenomenon is far greater when flying when there is sheet lightning going on in the ocean ?
Research BA 9 on the 24th June 1982; a BA flight flew through volcanic ash near Jakarta and the first indication was that there was St Elmo's fire all over the aircraft. The plane subsequently lost all 4 engines, although they were eventually able to restart them once clear of the ash cloud.
I've seen Sprite discharge above clouds twice. Sooo pretty.
I used to work near high voltage transmission towers. Our corporate parking lot ran parallel to towers that carried 660,000 volts. On evenings and nights when fog or light drizzle was present you could see the energy radiating around the wires along the length of the lines. Question, have you ever experienced ball lightening in an airplane? I don’t think it’s the same as St. Elmo’s fire but in the early 70’s we saw it on a military transport plane. Almost like the effect in your plasma ball, moving down the isle of the plane from nose to tail unhurried, taking a few seconds rather than a flash. Hair on arms and hands static charged as it passed... very strange and memorable. I think we were in stormy weather but I cannot be sure.
Dope video as usual, btw recommendation how to work a violet wand and how to use em pls😢😢
Thanks, and will do
Hi Jay ! Great video as usual ! Question : Why would the plain not take the charge of the lays of air it flying through ? What about the birds ? I do understand the saint elmo's fire at the top of the mast , but there the boats are really grounded in salt water.
THANKYOU EXPLAINING AND DEMONSTRATING THIS BEAUTIFUL PHENOMENON RESPECT FROM INDIA 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳
Hi Jay. I haven't actually experienced St Elmo's fire on a plane but have seen the coronal discharge as the air is breaking down just before an arc strike and from the top of power-line poles. As for the aeroplane windows, don't they become slightly conductive due to the moisture from the clouds? Anyway. Thank you for another great video.
Another thing that might help to mention is airplane manufacturers are aware that static charges will build up on the surfaces so they intentionally design them with conductive foils to dissipate that charge. 3M makes such materials perforated copper foils specially designed for aircraft wings.
I seem to remember from my childhood physics class, that the air must be dry for this effect to take place. The more pollutants in the air, the more the static build up from collision with the skin of the aircraft. If I was a betting man, I'd bet a lot of planes flying over dry desert areas see them most.
There's some really cool videos of helicopters in the desert at night that show static discharges from the rotor blades.
Negative check temperature outside the airplane ✈️ can tell when lightning strike Coming.
Aircraft cockpit Windows have heating wires embedded in the glass, so there is a good discharge path to the frame of the windows via these wires.
Question about your subaru ignition coil being driven by a ZVS driver you did a couple years ago. What I thought was the proper connection fried one of the secondaries with no arcing. I was using a 24V 10A power source and when it was turned on it never got over 12 volts and the righthand coil (output pins 1&2) super heated, expanded, and cracked. Can you give some details on how you are connecting a 3 pin ZVS in antiparallel configuration. Thank you.
Many years ago, when I was living out in the bush, I saw StElmos at the tip of a CB antenna. Luckily it was disconnected from the rig. You could hear it hissing.
I’m a Boeing fan, Here’s This: First, as a component from the aircraft is missing, you would reference the aircrafts Configuration Deviation List (CDL). The A330 CDL might say something like this: Static Dischager 20% of the static dischargers may be missing or defective from each of the following areas: Wing Horizontal stabilizer Vertical stabilizer Note: if a static discharger is missing or defective on a flap track faring, the VHF and HF sound quality may be slightly degraded.
Try out zvs circuit or maybe a musical tesla coil. I had a problem with my slayer exiter, I was being shocked by the transistor heat shrink. Please help me.
What is the field of study I need to follow to be able to research, manufacture and test like you or study high voltage? Hope to reply.
I have a headphone amplifier that I use and it was picking up a lot of static noise is probably more sensitive than the avionics and most modern commercial airlines
I'm glad you did another video on St. Elmo's Fire, since I saw that last video you made about it I've been very fascinated by it! I have seen sparks jump partially out of my finger when I bring my hand near a small SGTC, but I'm not sure if that is the same thing... If it isn't, what is the difference between a Tesla Coil inducing a high enough voltage in your hand to shoot small sparks out of it, and St. Elmo's Fire? I really enjoyed this video, I definitely want to buy myself a small toy airplane and build a .25 MV Volt multiplier after watching this video! Clayton B.
St. Elmos fire is DC, and a tesla coil produces AC.
Isn’t that what took down the Hindenburg?
yeah you are right ... these sparks ignited the hydrogen ...
I read about St. Elmo's Fire in Tintin in Tibet
Truly? No one in your group of friends has heard of ST. Elmo's' fire? I have seen it on ships at sea and thought that every one knew what it was.. I would have never guess it would be on airplanes also.. but if I really gave it a thought it makes sense. This was facinating!
fun to see icelandic pilot. im from iceland btw :D
Can private pilots in small aircraft at low altitude still see this event or does it only occur at higher altitudes?
Volcanic ash is a very common cause of St. Elmo's fire seen on airplanes and makes for an interesting seen when sitting in a window seat where you can see the leading edge of the wing.
That’s something I’d love to see myself. What an experience.
I accidentally found that it can be done. Similar to electron focus systems in a CRT. High voltage xxx Follows laser (high powered) vacuum, magnetically focused, to about 12 ft.
Catatumbo Lightning ⚡️ seen in person This was a neat question 🙋♂️ I asked What temperature a cubic foot could hold the most moisture Add this to your equation , lightning Travels in the least resistive path Lichtenberg, or “fractal,” And on the cockpit windshield you can direct the energy like your plasma ball Airlines mostly have laminated windshield for heating wire mesh Can get just like your Vandergraaff generator plasma coming off your fingertips More more more
I was working at a bunch of hangars at an airport not too long ago and was noticing all the little metal rods coming off the back of the wings on all the planes. I was wondering if those were for discharging static charge or something. Seems like it's indeed a real issue, I never knew the corona or sparks could get so bad without being dead in the middle of a bad storm. Awesome video though, I'd never heard of St. Elmo's fire before.
That's a cool job. Yeah, those are called wicks. The pilots told me about them in the interviews, but I cut them out.
I was fishing this weekend right as a thunderstorm was moving NE through the area. At one point I casted my drop shot with 8lb fluorocarbon, my weight hit bottom but my line continued to levitate 2ft off the surface of water (fluorocarbon sinks when in water, so it's not light). I then shook my rod sporadically wondering why my line was floating and then I got shocked from my graphite rod or metal reel. At that point I realized why my line was levitating and got back to the ramp as quickly as possible. Shortly after there was a huge lightning bolt across the lake. The weird things that happen while fishing.
Laying on my roof under a clear sky watching a thunder head an anvil more than 25 miles away it was beautiful nonstop lightning. Suddenly a huge silent bolt with fingers appeared directly over me . I got down after thanking God for the veiw and surviving it.
we call st elmo here in my country santermo
Peace
0:09 obvious bird
I was the 1000th like!
seen program once about plain crashes. And one plain had to be flying though volcanic ash but didn't know it! they thought what they were seeing was ST Elmo's fire but boy were they wrong. they rose higher but it was still the same so they dropped down and it stopped. (it was somewhere around the Philippines) but their windows were all frosted over and very hard to see out of. anyway they rose back up higher again & it came back. the whole plain was glowing blue. it was highly charged particulars of pumuss(spelled wrong) what they didn't know was it was sand blasting their windows and slowly clogging up their engines. they came back down and all was ok again. so they rose for the last time. It then smothered the engines and they crashed.. FLYING near volcanic eruptions is now safer because of this incident..
Hey jay I m twelve and want to build a multipier from my ZVS flyback circuit but my flyback has diodes at the output, do u know how to remove them? PS love ur vids
you could make your own secondary coil, never tried it but here's a link to a video i foundkzhead.info/sun/pLdsgsydnXSGY3A/bejne.html
@@sayyidhaziqbinwansufian3080 thanks I’ve tried on an old core but it either only makes a minuscule voltage or internal arcing but thanks though
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@Mihály Tóth thanks I can try that as soon as I grab a lot of enamel wire
How to design our own circuits without copying another device. Explain it in new video.😁
I'M jalousie too 🥺🙄
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Hey Jay, it's me again. I probably won't be able to see this video until maybe even 3 weeks from now. But thought I'd stop by and say that I look forward to seeing the video. Don't worry, your video will be seen. :) I'll post another comment once I do.
Hey SA, always glad to see you. No worries, take your time. I thought it was a killer video.
Fascinating phenomenon. I'd love to see it in person someday. If I was a pilot, I'd definitely have a dash cam.
You know I'm very confused how you aren't way bigger as a KZheadr than you are. I just feel like KZhead or something is trying to keep you wonder. The quality of videos the information and just everything about you
Thank you. The issue never seems to be my channel size, more of an issue that my own subscribers down watch my videos.
@@PlasmaChannel I've been watching your channel for some time and it's helped me greatly understand what's going on behind high-voltage circuitry. And like I said the level of quality and information in the videos is really good. Hopefully the algorithm will come around & more people will start watching you
Hey Jay can you build a atmospheric electricity generator
i have been told in the very old days, when ships are atill made of wood, captains and sailors already see these near storms,.they describe it greenish, and sailor on the mask sentry post will glow in the dark too.
True, it most often is associated as seen on ship masts.
how do we harvest that energy into capacitor to make the planes run of of it?
Look into ball lightning (fireballs) and how they might be foo fighters (not the group) lol.
vander volt forces love 90 degree angles .now do you know there are electro static force (lightning ) and magnetic static forse (the collapsing thunder ) the latter from the lightning splitting the air/vacuum . this i believe is how joe booker runs his air engines one charge pulls up piston the other repels.andyou get no valve bounce at any revs as valves become a super magnet to the aluminium head pf engine ..peter stevens and lynn eykamp know much of these new sciences
Love that static discharge. Lol As kids we use to see who could hold on to the leads off of a small hand crank dc generator the longest. The true hero was the guy who could tell which cylinder wasn’t firing properly by holding on to the spark plug leads. one by one! So yes of course kids don’t try this at home. You get to learn respect for electricity. Lol
Ball lightning, Red Lightning…. Enjoy Jay
i experienced at one occation st. elmos fire it whas under a thundercloud no rain no visible lightnings and i saw this purple 'ish discharge at my antennas i use for cb radio it whas at first terrifing but a few seconds afterwards it whas beautyful i also heard a faint hissing sound from the tip of the antennas gladly i used lightning arrestors and special grounding for my antennas otherwise this collected charge damadged my cb radios and im also happy that i dont touched the antennas i dont know what happend if i do maybe you can tell me about it thats my short story about st. elmos fire
I'm quite jealous, I must admit.
Hey jay sorry to bother but is there any way to message you I have a video idea you might like
How does it not adversely affect the aircraft electronics?
PLEASE PLEASE what is the model number on your Zenith radio 😊
Fishing on lake Ontario with out rigger booms up and yeah, a pop up storm WAYYYY to close, scared the shiz out of us as clearly you dont wanna mix lightning with boats
the reason why jets on aircraft carriers when they first lad have to be touched by a guy with a metal rod that's grounded to take the charge that accumulates on the surface of the metal of the plane,,, now as for St Elmo's fire thats because the plane now is charged in an opposite charge to the are its entering into,,, Easy explanation, we see this at the tops of mountains with metal objects and even people,,, but its in dark mode with people until a lightening discharge then its deadly,,,, u see electricity has 3 operational modes Arc mode Glow mode and Dark mode look up the Electric Universe,,, on youtube its the "Thunderbolts Project". Why is the solar wind voltage why is our bodies PH voltage because everything is electric my friends