Lightning Strikes
Was in the second spin in the OCK hold at FL090 one morning last October. The conditions weren’t the best, as we were holding in towering CU with heavy rain and continuous moderate turbulence. It wasn’t very comfortable. As we started the turn back to OCK from the south end of the hold the F/O read my mind and stated, quite prophetically, that the conditions were about right for a lightning strike.
No sooner were the words out of his mouth when there was a bright flash on the left side and the immediate clap of very loud thunder, which drew my immediate attention to the screens & instruments. Not even a flicker! Everything continued normally.
It didn’t surprise us too much as we were both expecting it. I think it would have been quite spectacular had it been at night.
Inspection on the ground revealed a bit of scorching at the strike point on the left engine intake cowl, with the exit point at the aft end of the engine. Otherwise, no damage and no adverse instrument effect.
As far as the radar goes, it is very accurate for rain. But in a small space, like in a hold and the immediate approach area, you tend to use the short ranges which are going to show the rain to be everywhere, so it isn't going to tell you what you don't already know. Also, at the short ranges, like 20 miles and less, the radar tends to be overly sensitive and in a lot of cases makes things look worse than they really are. It's best used on the medium to longer ranges for weather avoidance.