LIGHTNING
--------------
I feel that composite blades may have something to do with this; flying the Chinook with massive wide chord composite blades (especially at night in winter) I remember being frequently singled out for this; sometimes also St Elmo's Fire, quite eerie. Never saw it on 61's or 76's.
Never a big problem, small hole in the blade (easily filled up), bonding leads burnt and a little exit hole in the fuselage, no big deal. But I know Super Pumas had some alarming events; they too employ quite a lot of composites. I agree about the comments on temperature and would add relative humidity.
So anybody got any scientific comment on composites/lightning?