Believe it or not, lightning strikes in commercial aviation are very common. I've had three so far in 19 years. Some cause damage, some don't. Normally just an inspection, though one of mine did blow the static wicks off of the right aileron and elevator. Usually the damage, if any, is at the many (sometimes over a hundred) exit points.

Cannon wrote:Believe it or not, lightning strikes in commercial aviation are very common. I've had three so far in 19 years. Some cause damage, some don't. Normally just an inspection, though one of mine did blow the static wicks off of the right aileron and elevator. Usually the damage, if any, is at the many (sometimes over a hundred) exit points.

Hi Cannon;

Glad you did not have any "bad" strikes. Luckily, never been hit flying my little ship.

Question(s), if I may:

#1 What type of aircraft were you flying?
# 2 Location, altitude, time of year ?

Thank you!

So far I had 4 lightning strikes in my career. Depending where you fly, lightning strikes are very common. I remember last year there were over 20 aircraft hit by lightning in one day going into Hong Kong. It's a non event. I once got hit on the nose, makes a really really loud bang and is very bright (thats why you switch the cockpit storm lights on at night when flying in bad weather) but that's it. Usually you have a small entry hole where the lightning hits and some blown rivets where it exits. My lighting strikes all exited on the wing tip.

8GCBC wrote:
Hi Cannon;

Glad you did not have any "bad" strikes. Luckily, never been hit flying my little ship.

Question(s), if I may:

#1 What type of aircraft were you flying?
# 2 Location, altitude, time of year ?

Thank you!

The first one was in an RJ (EMB-145), springtime somewhere over Mississippi at FL370. Like an idiot I decided to fly between two cells that were ~15 miles apart rather than fly around them. It was daytime, clear between them, and I biased slightly toward the smaller of the two cells. Just as we got between them, the smaller cell (which was still 3-5 miles away) got us. I saw the bolt, and it was the first time I'd heard lightning from inside the cockpit. Sounded like someone hit the side of the airplane with a rubber mallet. We had a new flight attendant on her first training flight. She was looking out the window at the time, and the lightning hit literally inches from her face, right next to her window. She was not amused.

The second one was early winter leaving LAX of all places. I was deadheading on a 757 when we were hit somewhere on the right side. Big flash, same sound, and the passengers on the right side strangely responded by closing their window shades. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.

The third one was at night, summertime, descending into Philly in a 737. It was a large area of moderate stratus-type rain, glass smooth, no forecast convection and none that could be seen sticking up out of the ~15,000' tops as we descended into the weather. The cockpit was very dark, and at about 7,000' - BAM! Right on the centerpost between the windshields. Bright is an understatement. The airplane was unaffected, A/P remained on, and after 5-10 seconds we could start to see the screens again, which fortunately were now bright (until this event, it never occurred to me that the photocells in the EFIS screens would also see the flash and immediately go full-bright - whether by accident or design, very beneficial). We landed uneventfully, though we did find a quarter-sized exit hole in the left winglet.

Now, getting hit in a prop airplane - whether piston or turboprop - can be more problematic. Lightning often likes to enter or exit through propellers, and when it does it wreaks havoc with the engine. It will arc across each bearing and gearset it comes across until it gets into the airframe, usually requiring an engine teardown because of the potential for pitting the various engine components. It rarely causes major problems in jets.

I always wondered what would happen if lightning struck a prop plane. Why is it that the lightning like to enter or exit the prop? One would think that taking the path of least resistance would keep it from going through all the bearings. Unfortunately, lightning doesn't always follow the rules...

Cannon wrote:

8GCBC wrote:
Hi Cannon;

Glad you did not have any "bad" strikes. Luckily, never been hit flying my little ship.

Question(s), if I may:

#1 What type of aircraft were you flying?
# 2 Location, altitude, time of year ?

Thank you!

The first one was in an RJ (EMB-145), springtime somewhere over Mississippi at FL370. Like an idiot I decided to fly between two cells that were ~15 miles apart rather than fly around them. It was daytime, clear between them, and I biased slightly toward the smaller of the two cells. Just as we got between them, the smaller cell (which was still 3-5 miles away) got us. I saw the bolt, and it was the first time I'd heard lightning from inside the cockpit. Sounded like someone hit the side of the airplane with a rubber mallet. We had a new flight attendant on her first training flight. She was looking out the window at the time, and the lightning hit literally inches from her face, right next to her window. She was not amused.

The second one was early winter leaving LAX of all places. I was deadheading on a 757 when we were hit somewhere on the right side. Big flash, same sound, and the passengers on the right side strangely responded by closing their window shades. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.

The third one was at night, summertime, descending into Philly in a 737. It was a large area of moderate stratus-type rain, glass smooth, no forecast convection and none that could be seen sticking up out of the ~15,000' tops as we descended into the weather. The cockpit was very dark, and at about 7,000' - BAM! Right on the centerpost between the windshields. Bright is an understatement. The airplane was unaffected, A/P remained on, and after 5-10 seconds we could start to see the screens again, which fortunately were now bright (until this event, it never occurred to me that the photocells in the EFIS screens would also see the flash and immediately go full-bright - whether by accident or design, very beneficial). We landed uneventfully, though we did find a quarter-sized exit hole in the left winglet.

Now, getting hit in a prop airplane - whether piston or turboprop - can be more problematic. Lightning often likes to enter or exit through propellers, and when it does it wreaks havoc with the engine. It will arc across each bearing and gearset it comes across until it gets into the airframe, usually requiring an engine teardown because of the potential for pitting the various engine components. It rarely causes major problems in jets.

Hi Cannon;

Thank you for your detailed discussion. Some points that I was unaware of:

* Photocells (may) relay the intensity, of the lightning flash, to a screen making it very bright
* Props are natural lightning rods that seem to attract a path into the engine
* Jets tend to "Fly away" with minor issues and lightning is more common in the air carrier business

Mahalo

A1Skinner wrote:I always wondered what would happen if lightning struck a prop plane. Why is it that the lightning like to enter or exit the prop? One would think that taking the path of least resistance would keep it from going through all the bearings. Unfortunately, lightning doesn't always follow the rules...

Good point. Maybe the aircraft had electrical potential (after all it was on the surface at takeoff). A flying "ground". The electricity entering the propeller then saturates the entire airframe via the engine. Obviously there is a huge amount of potential ground on the earth surface to keep the arch alive, during and after the strike. Yet another random thought sitting around with an iPAD.