Nighttime Planelopnik: Glowing Exhaust Edition

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 07/26/2016 at 23:16 • Filed to: planelopnik

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Check out the glowing exhaust as this McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier makes a night landing on board the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4). Also note the sparks around the air intakes. Maybe one of our resident aero guys can explain what is causing that. The green lights that click on after landing are the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > ttyymmnn 07/26/2016 at 23:28

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The intake sparks are probably static from dust/sand in the air. They look very similar to these ones on a helicopter.

Levitas > ttyymmnn 07/26/2016 at 23:28

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The channel says Arabian Gulf, so I’d like to assume there’s a fair amount of sand in the air. As it lands it looks like it throttles up, which would mean an increase in intake velocity. Fast enough intake velocity, and the sand that is carried in the intake air scrapes some metal off the intake wall. The effect is even more apparent on helicopters in the same region.

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > ttyymmnn 07/26/2016 at 23:34

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Any and everything that gets sucked into that air intake that’s solid makes a spark when it hits the fan, especially in a dusty place like like that.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > ttyymmnn 07/26/2016 at 23:39

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could potentially be light reflecting out from the combustion chamber.

random fact. A harrier can only hover for 60-90 seconds before the ducts melt.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP 07/26/2016 at 23:57

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Corona Effect. Makes for very cool photos.

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 07/27/2016 at 00:39

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Those ducts have 100% of the exhaust routed through the them 100% of the time, I doubt that's accurate.

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 07/27/2016 at 00:44

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I think you mean before they damage the deck of the carrier? The ducts are always routing the exhaust.