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Lightning + Airplane = ?

TheBubba

TheBubba

I Can Has Leadership!
None
Ok... question...

I know its not unheard of for an aircraft to get struck by lightning and still land safely.

My question (search turned up nothing) is as a pilot or NFO, what exactly do you do when lightning hits the plane? That and does it fry the electronics? I know it can't be good for them at all. Anyone ever had a lightning stike while flying?
 
A4sForever

A4sForever

BTDT OLD GUY
pilot
Contributor
TheBubba said:
Ok... question... ..... Anyone ever had a lightning stike while flying?
Click to expand...

Yeah, a few times, military and civilian. Not a real big deal --- but it's not something I look forward to...... It never really did anything more than get our attention --- and once, on the 747, the lightening strike made a couple of little holes in the A/C skin where it exited --- looked like we had been attacked at altitude by an irate water moccasin ....

I've "heard" horror stories but never seen any --- I can only relate that it was not a really big deal in 5 or 6 strikes over the years.
 
Fly Navy

Fly Navy

...Great Job!
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
In the T-45... restart the engine (every time a T-45 has been hit by lightning, the engine quit)
 
HAL Pilot

HAL Pilot

Well-Known Member
None
Contributor
P-3: 1st time: 3 holes the size of a dime in the skin
2nd time: nothing
3rd time: blew off half the nose radome and fried the radar

DC-10: nothing

Twin Otter: 1 hole the size of a dime in the skin and fried one of my VOR receivers (VOR antenna was scorched and they think that is where we took the hit. The hole wass where it came out.

Those are the 5 hits that I a sure I took over the last 23 years. There have been a few more times where I think I was hit with no damage or evidence of the strike.
 
G

gtg941f

Member
pilot
Had a Gulfstream test plane that intentionally went through storms take a lightning exit through the winglet and it blew a chunk of it about 1 sq ft in size right off the end of the wing.
 
TheBubba

TheBubba

I Can Has Leadership!
None
raptor10 said:
I thought that when an aircraft gets struck by lightning, it goes AWOL, downloads load music and votes democrat. Stupid "Stealth," hollywood should make more documentaries like "Top Gun"
Click to expand...


One for the quote locker.
 
MIDNJAC

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
my dad had a good story about getting hit by lightning 3 times on one patrol in his P-2. Apparently no big deal for the first two strikes, but the last one blew the MAD boom apart, and also damaged their nav equipment.......luckily they were already nearly established on approach to Guam, and they took an uneventful GCA(?) once the nav went out.
 
East

East

东部
Contributor
Had several, with several levels of damage.
Last time we had to remove the entire glareshield do gain access for repairs.
We also had to remove a sliding window frame. More repair than the schedule offered, we had to hire Tanker capacity from the USAF to meet our responsabilities.
It can do more harm than you think on thick material, on a/c skin the damage is easily repaired, but as soon as strucural parts are involved, you're fvcked.
 
Flash

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Had one in the Prowler, we thought it struck right behind the canopies. Scared the crap out of us, it felt like someone took a sledgehammer and whacked the plane with it. Did not really do anything to the plane, no damage or marks, but me and ECMO 3 (I was ECMO 2) had weird headaches, our jaws and necks hurt a little bit as well as our heads :confused: . Ironically, it was ECMO 1's instructor check. She passed.
 
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