Lightning Strike !

[cobra]

This is why flying around in weather may be quite frightening

[John Young]

Oi - Eish

Would be nice if Skyvan or Arnulf spots this thread to comment.

Regards
John ZU-CIB

[skyvan]

There is a reason why we are not allowed to take-off towards a thunderstorm!!!

Actually, a lightning strike is rarely a major problem, even one as vigorous as in the pic. The aircraft are designed with lightning in mind, hence we have "static" wicks along all the trailing edges. They seemed to work in the pic, notice how the strike is on top, and to the front of the plane, and it all runs off the plane at the rear of the wings and fuselage. The lightning protection system will appear to have done it's job.

The big boys get strikes more often than most people realise. Sometimes, you will be aware of it, sometimes not. Our most common problem with a strike is if it occurs in the front of the plane, the flash will temporarily blind the pilots and over activate the auto dimming control on the tv screens. The normal sign to us if we have a strike is a small burn hole, about the size of a 50c coin on a trailing edge.

The bigger problem near storms is the severe turbulence and probability of windshear.

[cobra]

Thanks Skyvan, hope my "kingpost, Luff Lines & Washout Batons" will take care of it :D

[grostek]

Hi, skyvan,

How long does it take to repair this "Small hole"
Just had a look at a 50cent piece and it is nogal groot

Kind regards

Gunter Rostek

[skyvan]

Hi Gunter, it seems to depend on the location. Very often, the engineers just seem to swop out the component/fairing/whatever, and send it off to the composite shop for repair. We can fly quite happily with a hole or two, we use high-speed tape to cover the hole until it can get back to the maintenance base.

[Arnulf]

As Skyvan states, lightning strikes are not major problem whilst flying. So far I got hit twice in a 747 that I am aware of, once during the approach into Vitoria, nothern Spain, and once during the approach into Bangkok. It does make you sit upright when it strikes close to the cockpit. With the one strike it felt as if the Jumbo got a good klap from the side.
It is a bigger problem if the aircraft is on the ground, and the ground engineer is connected to the aircraft with his head set. It can cause injury to the poor sod connected to the aircraft.

Lightning strikes can be expensive to propellor driven aircraft. The lightning strike very often exits through the prop. In a turboprop that may result in having to replace the engine. Because of the high current passing through the main shaft, all kinds of weird things happen to the molecular structure of the shaft and bearings, ie getting magnetised etc.

The main reason to stay clear of thunderstorms is because of hail, turbulence and windshear.

Regards,
Arnulf

[Bennie Vorster]

The normal sign to us if we have a strike is a small burn hole, about the size of a 50c coin on a trailing edge.

And a Brown spot in the pants.

[grostek]

Must be hell putting highspeed tape over a hole at 35,000 feet

Kind regards

Gunter Rostek

[John Young]

Thanks Skyvan, hope my "kingpost, Luff Lines & Washout Batons" will take care of it :D

From Demon's post, Cobra, I guess you don't want to find out for yourself.

Have encountered rain which stings like crazy - but hail.

Thanks to Skyvan and Arnulf for the input.

Regards
John ZU-CIB

[DieselFan]

I was told that if lightning hits a trike the wing would vapourise due to the heat as we have fabric covering our wings not a lot of 50c coins! I suppose you could say we have paper money.

Demon thats one heck of an experience! Howcome prop survived hail? Does the fairing divert hail as effectively as it does rain? I've only once been caught in light rain but most of it was diverted.

[cobra]

I was told that if lightning hits a trike the wing would vapourise due to the heat ...

No sh#t

[ACE]

I was told that if lightning hits a trike the wing would vapourise due to the heat ...

No sh#t

You can say that again

[Arnulf]

Demon wrote:

but my flying wires had blue sparks running up and down them,

This phenomena is known as St. Elmo's Fire.
St. Elmo's fire can also often be observed on cockpit windows when flying through precipitation. It looks like small scale lightning bolts running up and down the window.

Regards,
Arnulf

[John Young]

This phenomena is known as St. Elmo's Fire.
St. Elmo's fire can also often be observed on cockpit windows when flying through precipitation. It looks like small scale lightning bolts running up and down the window.

Like these,

Although I doubt if St. Elmo's Fire will ever be a factor on ZU-CIB.

Regards
John ZU-CIB