52 minutes ago, mSparks said:

Ball lightning:

But not in clear skies at 35,000 ft. I understand ball lightning always occurs at much lower altitudes and in thunderstorm conditions.

31 minutes ago, dmwalker said:

But not in clear skies at 35,000 ft. I understand ball lightning always occurs at much lower altitudes and in thunderstorm conditions.

anywhere anytime, ball lightning is basically the same effect as the northern lights but more contained.

creepy ones can wander around forests for an hour after a lightning strike, the main condition you need is still/non turbulent air.

like weightless bubbles of glowstick.

like I said, if you want to see what they look like, stick a lit candle in a microwave for a few seconds.

Edited February 16, 20242 yr by mSparks

3 hours ago, mSparks said:

Ionic propulsion: 100% true, you can even make them yourself - you just need a very high voltage.

 

Miniscule thrust though. Without a huge, heavy, power supply it's too inefficient.

 

3 hours ago, mSparks said:

Gravitic propulsion: This one is very messy, personally I think they have it working, but the implications of having it working are absolutely terrifying.

 

No evidence it's feasible and most scientists would say not. A satalie was in orbit recently to test such a concept, trouble was there was a fault and they didn't get to turn it on

12 minutes ago, martin-w said:

Miniscule thrust though. Without a huge, heavy, power supply it's too inefficient.

depends how much voltage/energy you put in.

the main issue for commercial rather than military use of all that kind of electric thrust stuff is the slight issue of a nuclear battery capable of running it is also capable of demolishing a small city.

B61_12s do exactly that with 60kg of material.

18 minutes ago, martin-w said:

No evidence it's feasible

there is zero chance of anything remotely feasible reaching the public domain. I've already seen plenty of tech with orders of magnitude smaller implications effectively suppressed.

2 hours ago, mSparks said:

depends how much voltage/energy you put in.

the main issue for commercial rather than military use of all that kind of electric thrust stuff is the slight issue of a nuclear battery capable of running it is also capable of demolishing a small city.

B61_12s do exactly that with 60kg of material.

there is zero chance of anything remotely feasible reaching the public domain. I've already seen plenty of tech with orders of magnitude smaller implications effectively suppressed.

 

As I said, without a huge power supply the thrust is miniscule from ion wind, so too heavy for atmospheric flight where the wind is generated. 

 Ion propulsion is in use, of course, for satalites in space. Where a small amount of thrust is sufficient due to micro gravity and no atmosphere. If you want a more powerful ion drive, it's nuclear electric ion propulsion or something like a VASIMIR drive. 

I'm sure there's technolgy not in the public domain. But gravitic drives or antigravity is a stretch. But who knows.

Edited February 16, 20242 yr by martin-w

Just now, martin-w said:

 

AsxI said, without a huge power supply the thrust is miniscule from ion wind. And the point, is that you'd need an very heavy power supply, which would counter the increased thrust. Ion propulsion is in use, of course,for satalites in space. Where a small amount of thrust is sufficient due to micro gravity and no atmosphere. If you want a more powerful ion drive, it's nuclear electric ion propulsion or something like a VASIMIR drive. Ion wind isn't relevant in space with no atmosphere and as I said, too heavy for atmospheric flight

nuclear is the power source, China is selling baby ones off the shelf these days:

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/nuclear-battery-betavolt-atomic-china-b2476979.html

not new or unviable tech, ships like Deep Space 1 launched in 1998 using solar rather than nuclear, Curiosity used

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-mission_radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

45kg for >30MWh, compared to 450 kg for 0.2MWh in a Tesla Roadster battery

pretty much nothing is known about the X37B, besides the fact it runs a Magnetogradient Electrostatic Plasma Thruster (MEP)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37

 

Sorry Double post the Forum is glitching like mad

Edited February 19, 20242 yr by Lonesome Cowboy Burt

On 2/15/2024 at 5:09 PM, dmwalker said:

It's a report in the Anchorage Press, by Lawrence D. Weiss Oct 28, 2019 Updated Sep 17, 2022. He appears to be a University of Alaska Anchorage professor emeritus of public health who is now retired and writes newspaper articles.

His source seems to be John Callahan, who was FAA Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations Branch in Washington, DC. Callahan’s recollections were recorded in this interview: 

 

OK, I've read the Anchorage press piece mentioning the report, but still can't find the actual FAA  report they reference, I seriously doubt its existence in any form close to what they describe..its all bollox innit

3 hours ago, Lonesome Cowboy Burt said:

OK, I've read the Anchorage press piece mentioning the report, but still can't find the actual FAA  report they reference,

Don't you have any comment on this video statement by John Callahan? I think the Anchorage Press refers only to the captain's report, not an official FAA report of findings and conclusions. The whole file was supposed to have been destroyed, in accordance with standard procedures but copies do exist for 40 documents, including the captain's report, at this website:

https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/ufo-case-japanese-airlines-jal1628-november-17-1986/#google_vignette

5 hours ago, dmwalker said:

Don't you have any comment on this video statement by John Callahan? I think the Anchorage Press refers only to the captain's report, not an official FAA report of findings and conclusions. The whole file was supposed to have been destroyed, in accordance with standard procedures but copies do exist for 40 documents, including the captain's report, at this website:

https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/ufo-case-japanese-airlines-jal1628-november-17-1986/#google_vignette

dunno why, but that reminds me of

 

That one always gave me a chuckle😁

 

P.S. I fly something with an 80kt cruise speed and generally around 3k' so obviously any chest puffing is out of my grasp🤣

Edited February 20, 20242 yr by Lonesome Cowboy Burt

On 2/16/2024 at 4:49 PM, dmwalker said:

But not in clear skies at 35,000 ft

apparently low pressure is best