Back in '95 I was a nav on a 130K flight from Akrotiri via Adana to Nairobi, our route took us virtually over Khartoum. Due to an air traffic delay at the Adana flag stop the sun was already setting as we coasted in North of Cairo, the forecast weather gave us no cause for concern, even with our flight some 2 hours later than planned.
It was a clear night with nothing showing on the radar, the previous day the weather had been fine from Lyneham to Cyprus so there hadn't been a chance to check the '190 on anything other than rocks. As we headed South the stars started to become less distinct, until all that was visible was a soft grey glow, the lack of populated areas on the ground, we had passed Khartoum by now, meant there was very little by which to check the cloud density.
After a few minutes of zero visibility the ride became subject to turbulence, and the wipers started to attract St Elmo's fire. Gradually a rattling noise became ever stronger, until it seemed as though someone were firing a machine gun at us, the cupola had a thick build up of ice as hailstones about the size of marbles started to stick rather than deflect. As the ride grew ever choppier the St Elmo's fire spread to the probe, on looking out of the windows we saw that the wings themselves were glowing blue. It was around this time we surmised that the '190 probably wasn't showing us all that its designer had intended.
That night we all got very, very drunk.
Seen it a few times, just never quite covering the entire airframe as in this case!
Last edited by Confucius; 21st February 2007 at 21:44.