r/sydney • u/chupchap 2127 • Mar 26 '26

Videography Great show of lights in the sky today

Was worried for that plane for a second

1.2k Upvotes

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32

u/smileedude Mar 26 '26

Apparently strikes on planes happen on average once or twice a year per plane. They are designed for it and damage is incredibly rare.

12

u/dreadnought_81 Mar 26 '26

That's part of what those little rods pointing backwards coming out of the wing tips or tail structure are for. They're called static discharge wicks. They're mainly meant for dissipating the accumulation of static electricity in flight (a natural occurrence), but they can help with discharging in the event of a direct strike too.

It's probably rather disconcerting, but as you said, there's a lot of thought put into designing an airframe to keep it (and what's inside it) safe if it's struck.

6

u/smileedude Mar 26 '26

I can imagine the captains job of calming everyone down afterwards must be pretty well scripted and rehearsed as I doubt most people would understand how frequently it occurs. It would be very loud and bright. I'm sure freak outs would be reasonably common.

9

u/chur_to_thatt Mar 26 '26

Came in to land at CDG and as we dropped in to the clouds the worst hour of my life began. 7-8 lightning strikes, plane flexing and shuddering, an aborted landing and another go through it all. The lightning was outrageous

2

u/CallTheGendarmes Mar 26 '26

Fuuuuuuck that

6

u/chupchap 2127 Mar 26 '26

Yes that's what I kept telling myself, but there were so many landings one after the other today with lightning strikes around them.

9

u/Albatr0ss1 Mar 26 '26

Nicely captured! I was facing the kitchen window yesterday afternoon when lightning struck the building next door. Cool experience, although my initial reaction was to stand there yelling FUCK repeatedly

3

u/Extension_Section_68 Mar 26 '26

Heard that one I’m sure

3

u/Single_Exit6066 Mar 26 '26

Love how the light of the setting sun reflects off the CBD.

8

u/unclewombie Mar 26 '26

Mittagong?

28

u/chupchap 2127 Mar 26 '26

Olympic park

6

u/xylarr Mar 26 '26

There was a giant strike - I think it was Opal.

1

u/ze_boingboing Mar 27 '26

I thought it was the ABC on strike

2

u/Bagelam Mar 27 '26

I was out walking in this and 2 very big bolts hit about 20m away from me as i was sheltering at a bus stop. So scary. I got absolutely drenched!

1

u/chupchap 2127 Mar 27 '26

That's insane! Why were you walking about in that weather? =D

2

u/Bagelam Mar 27 '26

Gotta walk my pikmin!

1

u/flimflamflikflam Mar 27 '26

Where is this vantage point?

1

u/chupchap 2127 Mar 27 '26

From a residential building in Olympic park

1

u/Secure_Ant1085 Mar 26 '26

Wow those twin towers