Watch Plasma Dance on the Nose of the Air Force's Doomsday Plane
Here's an oldie but goodie. A video taken from a US Air Force-or possibly Air National Guard- refueling tanker shows St. Elmo's Fire dancing between it and an aircraft awaiting refueling.
St. Elmo's Fire is a weather phenomenon that occurs typically during electrical storms. A grounded object-in this case the refueling probe-discharges electricity in a charged atmospheric field. This creates plasma, plasma that-in this case-jumps from the refueling probe to the nose of the airplane receiving the fuel.
St. Elmo's Fire is considered harmless, which you might infer from the fact that neither the tanker nor the receiver noped out of the maneuver as soon as it showed up. If anything, it's probably a distraction for the boom operator and pilot as they try to connect two aircraft hurtling through the skies at hundreds of miles an hour. That's primarily because both planes are completely grounded on their own, and the jet fuel only flows once the two are completely attached. After all, there tends to be actual lightning up in the clouds too.
The aircraft receiving the fuel? A U.S. Air Force E-4B Advanced Airborne Command Post. The E-4B is designed to fight a nuclear war from the air, providing a safe, mobile location for the President of the United States and senior military leadership. The aircraft has advanced communications, is hardened against the effects of electromagnetic pulse, and with midair refueling has virtually unlimited range.
A few sparks are no big deal.
