
How airplanes counteract St. Elmo's Fire during thunderstorms - lelf
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-airplanes-counteract-st-elmo-thunderstorms.html
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User23
I was on a plane that was struck by lightning once. It sounded like a bomb had
just gone off. For about 10 seconds nobody on the plane made a sound as we all
tried to figure out if we were screwed or not. After a couple minutes the
captain came on doing his best Chuck Yeager impression, as is tradition, and
explained to us what had happened and that there was really no reason to worry
because it happens all the time and the planes are designed for it.

~~~
VBprogrammer
It's actually getting more and more of a problem with the amount of composites
going into modern airliners. They have to build in elaborate foils and meshes
to conduct any discharge around the airframe.

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_-___________-_
"more and more of a problem" is maybe a bit dramatic. It's a design constraint
of composite structures exposed to lightning that you need to provide
electrical pathways, which is what the designers do, and composite aircraft
regularly get struck by lightning with no damage caused.

~~~
VBprogrammer
I don't think it's particularly dramatic. The Boeing 787 is the first airliner
to really use composites to a high degree in its structure. There was and is
plenty of controversy around it's lightening protection design. For example
[https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-
aerospace/faa-e...](https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-
aerospace/faa-engineers-objected-to-boeings-removal-of-some-787-lightning-
protection-measures/)

It's also been controversial in small aircraft like the Cirrus SR22, for
example complete failure of the radios and / or electric systems due to static
buildup on the airframe.

I'd say it's far from a solved problem.

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_-___________-_
It is literally a solved problem at this point. You solve it by providing
electrical pathways within the structure, which is what is done in the 787 and
other composite-hulled aircraft, and these aircraft regularly get struck by
lightning with no issues.

I am not deeply familiar with the SR22, but if they are having those issues I
guess they didn't implement the well-known solutions, or didn't implement them
properly.

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harrydehal
Great article. It's funny to me that, after decades of presumably a decently
well-read academic life, I'm finally able to put into context the actual
meaning of "St. Elmo's Fire."

I had only been tangentially aware of the pop culture references in music
(e.g. Brian Eno
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKch8dZ61w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKch8dZ61w))
and film (I have not seen the film with Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Demi
Moore, although it looks interesting, e.g.
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090060/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090060/))

Here's more reading on the actual Erasmus of Formia, or St. Elmo:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_of_Formia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_of_Formia)

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psim1
The film is the origin of the “brat pack” and the John Parr/David Foster song
that the lite FM stations play every other day.

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supernova87a
The article is a little thin on the finding being useful to _do something_
with it. Because if what they describe is the case, then planes flying around
have been self-protecting against coronal discharge already.

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growlist
Isn't it strange. I was just reading about St Elmo's Fire last night after
watching a documentary about Air France Flight 447, and now today this.

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Brajeshwar
Absolutely. When I was doing Hydroponics/Aeroponics, I keep seeing all of
those pretty much everywhere. That didn't work out so I'm now on to Satellite
Imagery for Agriculture and I see that everywhere. The world works its own
stories but directed for you.

~~~
Sharlin
It's the so-called Baader–Meinhof phenomenon, or frequency illusion more
formally speaking.

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jandrese
The answer is: By going fast.

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mmmpetrichor
And not touching the ground! :)

