Good advice.
Aircraft are just a static electricity jumper for cloud to cloud or
cloud to ground. And the effects of the strikes vary widely, making it
difficult to predict what he damage could be, so avoid buildups is a
sound practice. Too bad our soaring brothers must take such a risk to
get a bit of lift.
Regards again,
Bud
----- Original Message -----
From: f.kyle@sympatico.ca<mailto:f.kyle@sympatico.ca>
To: 5EUROPALIST <mailto:europa-list@matronics.com>
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 10:37 AM
Subject: Europa-List: Flying near Cb's
I've had a few Cb strikes, mostly on large aircraft,
and
essentially inconsequential, but few strikes on smaller machines
(SHJ/Harvard/T6 style).
The discussion about distance seems fairly consistent
regarding
a ten mile distance, with one exception. The transfer of energy seems
maximum when the state change takes place - at about the (summer)
freezing
level. Inside the chimney, the greatest disparity occurs about 17k to
19k -
just where the smaller transports fly. I made it a rule to give Old
Stormy
at least 25 miles avoidance at that level because he can reach out a
goodly
distance - and has.
Of course we had the advantage of radar to judge distances
(and
cloud climb rates), but I know the glider-wing group are flying at
similar
levels and composite aircraft are not friendly to large electrical
discharges.
Cheers, Ferg
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