In an age of social media, it’s pretty rare to see an aviation video that is totally different than anything we have seen before, but sometimes we get a fresh surprise. Case in point is this video that shows a formation of F/A-18 Hornets refueling from a KC-130 at night that has a full-on lightning storm as a backdrop. The clip is downright evil-looking in its intensity.
The video comes from one of our favorite Instagram follows, Combat_Learjet, and has little in the way of an explanation to go with it. Generally, flying through a lightning storm is far from ideal, but this is especially true when your jet is attached to a flying gas station via a hose that has hundreds of gallons flowing through it every minute. So, we can only surmise that the formation was skirting around the storm, which provided the incredible backdrop for the video with its no brainer “Thunderstruck” soundtrack.
It must have been one hell of a sight to behold for the crews of the F/A-18s and the KC-130. Aerial refueling is no easy task and doing it at night is not without its own elevated risks. Things can get very disorienting fast, which can lead to deadly consequences, and that is without mother nature’s strobe light going nuts off to one side.
Regardless, the incredible atmosphere provided us with one heck of a unique aviation video to gawk at.
BONUS VIDEOS!
Check out these two unrelated videos. The first is a B-2 making a picturesque approach to Diego Garcia during the type’s current deployment to the remote Indian Ocean island outpost. The second is an F-16 from the USAF’s Viper Demo team pulling some triumphant vapes as it rockets into the vertical:
Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com