Lightning strikes
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Join Date: Nov 1999
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Lightning strikes
Ok folks, question for you! How many lightning strikes does your airline/fleet suffer? The reason for asking we had 3 a/c with damage due to strikes the other day and hardly a week goes by without a report of a strike requiring inspection (and this just on the widebody fleet!)
I'm gonna put this in the Eng & tech forum as well
I'm gonna put this in the Eng & tech forum as well
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Europe-the sunshine side
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he,he...maybe some of you pilots need to be told how to switch on the weather radar..
...just joking,sometimes can be rather difficult to find a path through a stormy area,most often these days..
We have our share of lightning strikes,not quite often,i may say although we fly in cb areas across europe.
By avoiding as much as possible,and also by having some good knowleadge in meteorology you can minimise the occurence of lightning strikes.
Also,90% of our lighning strikes did not result in any damage to the planes involved.
...just joking,sometimes can be rather difficult to find a path through a stormy area,most often these days..We have our share of lightning strikes,not quite often,i may say although we fly in cb areas across europe.
By avoiding as much as possible,and also by having some good knowleadge in meteorology you can minimise the occurence of lightning strikes.
Also,90% of our lighning strikes did not result in any damage to the planes involved.
Trouble is: lightning does not only strike in the purple/red/yellow/green sections of your weather display... Some years ago I had one on the a/c nose (no damage, just a loud bang and temporary blindness 
), some 20 NM in the black with the WX radar @ full gain and proper tilt.
Lesson learned: radar is pretty good for avoiding heavy rain and hail - and associated turbulence - but lightning is an altogether different beast!
), some 20 NM in the black with the WX radar @ full gain and proper tilt. Lesson learned: radar is pretty good for avoiding heavy rain and hail - and associated turbulence - but lightning is an altogether different beast!
Last edited by xetroV; 7th Jun 2005 at 23:45.
