life @ 18000 feet: part deux.

was flying the shuttle sectors between blore and chennai tday..
and the weather around bangalore was quite bad with thunderstorms, rain and CB clouds all along the route.
and as expected, all 4 sectors were spent playing peek-a-boo with the clouds.. with 1 finger on the heading knob and the other playing with the weather radar to try and pick spots of least turbulent activity.

during the last sector(21:00 hrs), while flying from chennai to blore.. i noticed that the radome(nose) of the aircraft was emitting really cool static discharges into the atmosphere.( we were flying through clouds at all times, hence the rapid build up of static charge).
It was almost like a plasma ball.(i need to get myself one of these!!!!)

and as if that wasnt cool enough..the next thing i know, theres this bright flash right in front of the aircraft, coupled with a crackling sound and a sharp smell in the cockpit.
(later on landing, even the cabin crew mentioned the bright flash that travelled through the length of the cabin).
offcourse, its perfectly safe to be hit by lightning as the aircraft is made of aluminium, hence the lightning just passes through the aircraft outer skin and into the surrounding atmosphere without harming anyone/anything inside the aircraft.Also all electronic+fuel systems onboard are protected against such a scenario.
in fact the only real danger from being hit by lightning is the momentary flash of light that might temporarily blind us pilots.
But in my case, no such effect. What it did, was leave me feeling a little exhilarated for no apparent reason..
:))

after all,how many can claim to have been hit by lightning and enjoyed the experience too??!!