Any idea on what these “probes” are attached to the back of the wing?

Posted by imlooking4agirl@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 18 comments

Saw this at my local airport. Wasn’t really sure what they could be. Aircraft is a King air C90A.

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Fenix1371@reddit

Cloud seeding aircraft. During the summer this aircraft is used primarily in Calgary Alberta for hail mitigation. During the winter it flies over the mountains of the Blue Grass Stadium Charlie and area to generate snowfall.

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BeenThereDoneThat65@reddit

that is a cloud seeding airplane, those are Silver Iodide flares

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FuckYouLarryDavid@reddit

They're static wicks

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espike007@reddit

The static wicks are the thin, white, metal, sticks attached to the trailing edge of ailerons and wing tips. Clearly visible in this shot.

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Former_Farm_3618@reddit

🤓 I guess technically they act similar to static wicks. But that’s not their primary purpose. Those appear to be cloud seeding devices. Some sort of research is going on with this plane..

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Pilot_1024@reddit

That’s a weather mod plane/cloud seeding operation. Those little probes are flares that burn silver iodide to help molecules of water accumulate to create visible moister and possibly precipitation.

IRL chem trails if you wanna go schizo about it.

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Final_Winter7524@reddit

*moisture

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Nati-Nevada@reddit

Silver Iodide doesn’t create water moisture, the idea is that these flares burn off an appropriately sized nuclei for supercooled liquid water to adhere to.

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Morganater123@reddit

This is true, also as far as I know the primary aim of this is to reduce hail sizes to mitigate damage. At least in the corridor between Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta.

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agrockett@reddit

Making it ☔️

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ArmadilloNo7637@reddit

I think you want a true answer not some BS about chemtrails. They're probably static discharge wicks.

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Rainebowraine123@reddit

The true answer is it's for cloud seeding.

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49Flyer@reddit

Looks like cloud seeding. FedEx used to do this in ANC years ago to disperse fog; it was quite effective but the effect only lasted long enough for 1-2 airplanes before everything closed back in.

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