The first time I was personally introduced to lightning
I was flying betweeen Puerto Rico and the American continent. Had I not been in an airplane, I might not be allowed now to discribe the experience. We had just ridden through three minutes of violent storm. As I was beginning to wonder how much longer the wings of the airplane could stand the terrible torsing. Suddenly, it happened. The inside of the plane lit up, like an electric light. The light lasted less than a thousandth of a second, yet huge green sparks jumped all over the room. The radio man was knocked to the floor and the hair on the back of his head stood up stiffly. The lightning bolt had evidently struck the trailing wire of our radio, and falled to the tail of the airplane, then onto the radio itself, which was severely damaged. |