767 Lightning Strike Tonight, ATL
I was fortunate enough this evening to experience something I never thought I'd witness: A lightning strike on the aircraft that I was SLF on. I have a couple of questions, if any pros feel like enlightening (no pun intended) me.
It was DL115 BCN-ATL, in descent thru cloud a few minutes before the turn onto final. There was a show on the in-flight system at the time so I can't say anything about where we were when it happened because the flight data wasn't showing.
It was a little bumpy at the time, nothing crazy -- I've experienced worse before at ATL -- when there was a fairly startling crack (though not ear-splitting, such as you might experience if you're near the location of a groundstrike) accompanied by a flash of light outside. The flash, too, wasn't as intense as I would have imagined but I was seated in the center of cattle class, way down the back, so I might have had a different impression if I'd been closer to a window.
There didn't seem to be any electrical disruption onboard. No Hollywood lights-flickering or anything.
Anyway, my first thought was that maybe the tail had been struck by lightning or that we'd perhaps flown very close to an electrical discharge. Other pax looked around nervously and the purser smartly made a cheery announcement that folks seemed to find reassuring. "Well THAT was a surprise, ladies and gentleman," he laughed.
Nothing from the flight deck, understandably. They'd have had their hands full without the bang, I'm sure.
So, on leaving the aircraft (I was about the last pax off so I thought the Cap'n wouldn't mind too much) I asked him whether we'd indeed been hit by lightning or whether we'd just come close. He said we'd been hit on the nose and that maintenance were already all over it. He said all they could find so far was "a chip" out of the nose. He added that Mr Boeing makes tough aircraft.
I asked him how often that happened. He smiled. I asked "Once? Twice in a career?" He grinned even more and said something like that. Not wanting to keep him from the paperwork or the bar any longer, I offered my thanks for the adventure and the safe landing and went on my way.
What I thought odd about this was that the temperature on arrival at Hartsfield was chilly... it was in the 40s F. Cooler than I would have expected for such an event to occur but, of course, I'm no expert.
I'm curious about that. And also about being hit on the nose. Is that the most likely part of an a/c to receive a jolt? Is once or twice a career a fair estimate of frequency for a prof pilot?
I also wish I'd asked the Captain what it had looked like, and how long it had taken his eyes to recover.
Anyone who has time, I'd be much obliged.