St.Elmo's fire in light aircraft.

[Sam Rutherford]

So, a first for me tonight, little blue flashes along leading edges. Stormscope had strikes about 30km away, but clearly there was more electrical activity nearer by.

Anyone else had this?

Sam.

[tescoapp]

Yes it means your on the brown side of the envelope for weird stuff to start happening.

It means the air is charged to hell and potential is there for it to uncharge.

[Pilot DAR]

In the old days, flying the Aztec through heavy winter snow in Ontario, I could hold my fingers close to the windshield, and blue "sparks" would stream from my fingertips to the windshield like a plasma ball. One night I did it, and an unaware passenger in the back shrieked in alarm! I stopped doing it, my job was to transport the passengers happily!

[Sam Rutherford]

So whilst this is not (I think) a desirable situation to be in (safety-wise), is it:

Not too bad
High risk
Dangerous
You'll be lucky to survive

I will admit to simply not knowing, would appreciate guidance!

Thanks, Sam.

[meleagertoo]

So whilst this is not (I think) a desirable situation to be in (safety-wise), is it:

Not too bad
High risk
Dangerous
You'll be lucky to survive
I will admit to simply not knowing, would appreciate guidance!

Thanks, Sam.
I'd say it's the caregory you didn't include, namely No hazard whatsoever. It's only ionized air and shows that there are electrical charges present but St Elmo's fire frequently occurs in the absence of nearby thunderstorms for instance so where's the hazard? Having said that it is also common in or close to Cbs. The discharges are cold so cannot ignite anyhting. I associate them with flight in cold cloud, particularly in falling snow or ice crystals, don't think I've ever seen it in completely clear air though I believe it can happen.
Any risk would be from the met conditions that it is associated with and perhaps from simple pilot distraction as it's mesmerisingly beautiful.

[ChickenHouse]

Just ionized air, no problem at all unless you are a moving map addicted and get into trouble when the GPS stops working in this conditions - it highly likely will.

[460]

The very first time I ever got airborne at night was with St Elmo's fire all over the place - magic; I thought night flying was always like that!
(Jet Provost, 1969)
Sadly, I've never seen it since, despite a rather full professional flying career in those intervening 50 years.
Disappointed; certainly.

[tescoapp]

I wouldn't go for no hazard at all.

As I said the brown side of weird stuff happening. Plus quiet often your inside cloud when it starts happening which is lovely until you look down an see that 5 kts of airspeed have gone because of airframe icing.

As said GPS's start giving up.. Radios can stop receiving because the auto sqwelch has increased so much that the signal you actually want to listen to is muted as well.

Your not suddenly going to drop out of the sky when you see it.... but be prepared for weird stuff to start happening.

[Sam Rutherford]

On balance though, not really a concern - thanks!

I wonder when/if I'll ever see it again - typical I was solo at the time...

[wrecker]

Every time I have seen it the next thing that happens is the very loud bang of a lightning strike.

[tescoapp]

as wrecker says Sam you nearly always get it before a big bang of a strike. But you don't always get a hit when you see it. I might be a part of the world thing and local wx conditions.

Personally enough weird stuff has happened when I have seen it that I am quiet happy never to see it again in the air and if I want to play with it, a plasma ball for 20$ on the ground I will be more than happy with.

[Sam Rutherford]

wrecker And that is how many times in total? That you've seen this effect and been hit by lightning?

[tescoapp]

I have been hit 4 times if that helps sam and I have seen St elmos fire maybe 20 times. With 5 times nothing weird happened.

[Sam Rutherford]

In light aircraft? (as per thread title)

[Maoraigh1]

No aircraft experience, but at home, on a 100' north facing cliff, with CBs on a northerly wind.
My W XP computer crashed for the first time, with the modem burned out, in January 2007, when St. Elmo's Fire was seen on the houses and telephone poles in the village.
Neighbours had sparks coming from their keyboards to their fingers, and also lost their computers. A few minutes later lightning struck a house about 1/2 mile downwind.
I have suspicions about the vulnerability of light aircraft electronics in such a situation.

[tescoapp]

It doesn't really matter what size it is. I was hit once in a C172 blew a hole in the rudder. Light aircraft tend not to have the same bonding that TP's have. The less protection you have on the Electrics the more issues you can have.

[wrecker]

One specific lightning strike was in a cb in a wooden glider picking up ice at a hell of a rate and was preceded by a display of St Elmo's fire.
The other St Elmo's displays have been mainly in ice crystal cloud (anvils). As to frequency of strikes/St Elmo, events subjectivley a 1:3 ratio.
Of course volcanic dust is known to cause spectacular St Elmo's events.

[Sam Rutherford]

So, clearly no consensus here - with extremes of:

Harmless, wish it happened more.
Death is imminent.

Is there anything 'formal' on the subject?

Thanks, Sam.

[Maoraigh1]

I suspect there isn't enough data. Only recently have light aircraft had much electronics which would affect safety if lost. Few of these have encountered St. Elmo. There was a Cirrus in the US which had a problem near/in a thunderstorm. No injuries.
There is great variation in lightning strikes. The UK glider where the control rods melted is an example. There's probably also a variation in St. Elmo's.

[tescoapp]

sam you obviously want to go flying in it.

Crack on and learn the hard way.....##Very few people die because of strikes... so go for it.... just don't bill us lot for cleaning you pants and if you get nappy rash getting the kite back on the ground with a full ****e load down there..... tough you have been warned

[scroogee]

Not light aircraft but larger turbo prop and jet aircraft and a lot of night flying- seen it many times (guessing at 50+ events), no lightning strikes nor noticeable effects beyond radio static.

[Sam Rutherford]

tescoapp Not sure where all the aggression comes from?!

Actually, it is as my question - you shout and scream 'certain death', others are equally confident that it's not an issue. I'm intrigued by the variation, that's all.

What IS clear is that it is extremely rare (at least for my flight profiles) and is neither a sign that you definitely will, nor definitely won't, be struck by lightning...

[Pontius]

Never seen it in a light aircraft but I've seen it literally hundreds of times doing the day (night) job. Most recent experience was near Hong Kong a couple of weeks ago, where the windscreen was covered in bright lines that looked like mini forked lightning. It was a fantastic light show that lasted for well over 10 minutes.

I've been hit by lightning six times and none of those involved St. Elmo's fire. Read into that what you will (but I have no problems flying in/with it).