shamen123

didn'n see this posted anywhere in the news/rumours section. If it has been, sorry for the double post.

http://avherald.com/h?article=41b76b3b

An A330 on route from LHR to TLV was struck by lightning. Damage to the wing found, along with the loss of the winglet upon ground inspection.

There has been speculation lightning can cause the airbus composites to fail. Could this be an indication of such?

(Update: Link is being very slow, looks like its overloaded)

shamen123

non airline? eh?

Mad (Flt) Scientist

It's more likely an indication of what lightning can do to a relatively unprotected piece of CF structure. I suspect that the winglets are not defined as primary structure and thus are not as well protected with, say, metallic mesh, as other components may be. Because it's already been determined that the aircraft can be flown safely with one missing. (Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised to find that a missing winglet is permitted on the CDL with the associated perf penalties).

I wouldn't assume from this that a piece of primary structure would suffer comparable damage from a comparable strike.

OutOfRunWay

Mad Flt Scientist,

it is permitted.