PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - ethiopian airlines aircraft down near Beirut
Old 27th Jan 2010, 00:18
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OldChinaHand
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Hong Kong
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What Lightning can do !!

Many years ago while flying a large turbo prop over Italy we were hit 3 times in quick succession by Lightning while trying to negotiate weather. This was coupled with severe icing. The compass system was damaged by the electric discharges and rendered useless/unreliable. We were about 30 mins from destination (Pisa) and Radar assisted us with position and Hdgs (utilising standby compass) to continue. Vectors and descent to a high cloudbreak and visual approach into Pisa. Once landed we also discovered a 5 square inch chunk had been blown from the RH elevator. Not a fun morning.

I am not saying Lightning downed Ethopian, just relating my experience of a what it can do. I have been hit by same many times since, but never saw this damage repeated.
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