Originally Posted by
mtoroshanga
As usual so called experts are doing there thing
From personal experiance I can say that lighting damage on Super pumas was because of faulty construction by manufacture resulting in an insulating resin between the conducting terminal on the tail rotor blade W hen this problem was resolved there was no problem. The other result of a lightning strike is damage to main rotor head bearings which could be detected by IHUMS or mag plug debris
Not really. Even with everything correctly bonded there is a lot of damage arising from the current flow - arcing over gears and bearings in the head, gearbox etc, plus possible avionics damage. I think there have been instances of poor bonding on the rotors but this has not caused catastrophic damage, but perhaps increased blade damage (whilst still allowing continued flight). The original Super Puma's tail rotors were certified to a lesser maximum current integral which, in the case of G-TIGK was exceeded by nature, resulting in unexpectedly wet feet.
Every lightning strike IS a problem, not because it terminates the flight but because of the cost of replacing all the damaged and magnetised bits. I think it averaged £0.5 million per strike when we looked at it many years ago. However, one could say it is just part of the operating costs and continue to "get on with it" rather than stopping flying on many days, so that the one strike that year is avoided.