Lightning strikes
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: In a far better place
The two lightening strikes I've experienced started with a hiss increasing in volume followed by a loud report. On resulted in a 2" hole in the horizontal sabilizer which drilled a hole in the hinge plate. No loss of generators or inerruption of nav/comm resulted in either strike.
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 3,832
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From: UK
We have had this conversation before on a previous thread but I have sat through a ball lightning event once about 40 years ago over the Massif Centrale at night.
The ball appeared on the flight deck went downstairs and worked itself backwards through the cabin and exited the aircraft to the rear.
No damage was done apart from several underpant changes but I remember the dust and general crap that had been lying around for years behind the instrument panel suddenly being in suspension.
Afterwards, the loadmaster was quite adamant that he saw the ball come down underneath the wing and enter the aircraft.
The ball appeared on the flight deck went downstairs and worked itself backwards through the cabin and exited the aircraft to the rear.
No damage was done apart from several underpant changes but I remember the dust and general crap that had been lying around for years behind the instrument panel suddenly being in suspension.
Afterwards, the loadmaster was quite adamant that he saw the ball come down underneath the wing and enter the aircraft.
Joined: Sep 2004
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From: A GOOD PLACE TO FLY, DRINK, **** AND SLEEP.
Got struck once. Climbing through fl70 between two cells. Thought we had lots of clearance from them both. Wasn't expecting it. Big bang and a flash. Incredibly bright, it went in infront of my windshield and out the elevator trim tab. Since then I've been alot more cautious around cbs.
Joined: Feb 2006
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From: Netherlands
I'm not a professional here, but I was pax on a flight that was struck by lightning on the approach to Gatwick in December of all times, while flying through a very heavy shower...Seemed to strike the fuselage just ahead of where I was sitting (or does it pass along the fuselage, giving the effect of it striking ahead of my window? I'm not too sure of the mechanics/physics of lightning strikes) and there was just a very loud 'crack' and obviously a nice flash too. Didn't seem to be a particularly big deal, but made a few fellow pax go a bit quiet...! It certainly gave the 737 a fair old thump which I felt through the floor...An interesting experience!
Joined: Mar 2004
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From: Esher
A little bang....
PAX on BA 737 EDI-LHR February 2001 on downwind leg to 9L. Lightening hit nacelle directly outside my window. Deafening bang that was over v.quickly and wing lit up green which would probably have been quite pretty but I was contemplating my imminent death.
Captain came on straightaway and said that some of us might have noticed a little bang (a little bang! It probably was up the sharp end!) but a plane was the safest place to be when lightening strikes and we would be landing in 5 mins.
As we turned onto what turned out to be a short final we got hit again! Everybody was anxiously awaiting the reassuring tones of the Captain but none came. He had his hands full with the landing and we all had white knuckles!!
Captain came on straightaway and said that some of us might have noticed a little bang (a little bang! It probably was up the sharp end!) but a plane was the safest place to be when lightening strikes and we would be landing in 5 mins.
As we turned onto what turned out to be a short final we got hit again! Everybody was anxiously awaiting the reassuring tones of the Captain but none came. He had his hands full with the landing and we all had white knuckles!!
Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Surrounding the localizer
B757 on descent into Murcia last summer...Id literally just said to the Capt that the CB's we were dodging around seemed very tame.....then BANG BANG BANG, three strikes in about 2 seconds..with the last one just below my DV window...various expletives then uttered..and umbridge paid to murphy 
Bottums Up
Joined: Feb 2000
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From: dunnunda
MaC,
I took my first known strike in Feb last year. The F/O was the pilot flying a BAe146-200 - analogue instrumentation.
Whilst completing some paperwork I noticed him duck. This was followed by a flash and an almighty bang. Once the F/O's heart started beating he advised that the lightning had struck the nose, near his windshield wiper post.
Sadly there was no damage to the aircraft or any of its components. It was a dog of a machine and whilst we didn't want it to fall out of the sky, we wouldn't have been at all sad if it was determined upon inspection, to be unsalvagable.
Oh, and after we'd landed and disembarked the pax, the F/As advised that they, and many of the pax had seen a fireball pass down the starboard side of the aircraft, outside not inside.
I took my first known strike in Feb last year. The F/O was the pilot flying a BAe146-200 - analogue instrumentation.
Whilst completing some paperwork I noticed him duck. This was followed by a flash and an almighty bang. Once the F/O's heart started beating he advised that the lightning had struck the nose, near his windshield wiper post.
Sadly there was no damage to the aircraft or any of its components. It was a dog of a machine and whilst we didn't want it to fall out of the sky, we wouldn't have been at all sad if it was determined upon inspection, to be unsalvagable.
Oh, and after we'd landed and disembarked the pax, the F/As advised that they, and many of the pax had seen a fireball pass down the starboard side of the aircraft, outside not inside.
Joined: Dec 2000
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From: Sydney NSW Australia
Originally Posted by Capt Claret
Sadly there was no damage to the aircraft or any of its components..
seeing as there is plenty of us who have experienced Lightning strikes, Ball Lightning, and St Elmo's fire, there surly must by some photos of such events?? i have never seen st Elmo's fire, but would love to see a pic of it!
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 4,777
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From: Blighty
I've been struck several times and received shocks twice. The first was in a composite glider. There was no damage to the airframe but my left hand was on the airbrke lever and the charged arced from the metal part of the lever ovedr the plastic grip and hit my palm. I still have the scar today.
The second shock came in a VC10. I always thought that a metal airframe should a act as a farady cage and protect the occupants. Not so in this case. The strike was on the refuelling probe just above the radome. I was the PNF and was transmitting - telling ATC we were deviating for weather! The shock went throught the left pedal, up the left side of my body and through my left hand. The F/O felt a shock through both feet and lightning path went through the centre of the cabin. Everyone was sitting down so no-one in the cabin was struck. The aircraft had holes in the refuelling probe and both wingtips. I get aches up the left side of my body, parcticularly in the left wrist and ankle.
The second shock came in a VC10. I always thought that a metal airframe should a act as a farady cage and protect the occupants. Not so in this case. The strike was on the refuelling probe just above the radome. I was the PNF and was transmitting - telling ATC we were deviating for weather! The shock went throught the left pedal, up the left side of my body and through my left hand. The F/O felt a shock through both feet and lightning path went through the centre of the cabin. Everyone was sitting down so no-one in the cabin was struck. The aircraft had holes in the refuelling probe and both wingtips. I get aches up the left side of my body, parcticularly in the left wrist and ankle.
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,078
Likes: 46
From: Brighton
I had only 2 strikes in 20+ years of airline flying.
First on a B737 going into NCL, about 6 miles finals, only moderate Cu around. No warning, big flash, big bang, as we got a strike on the nose just outside the FO's front window. No effect on the aircraft at all. We did find a small burn mark on the nose afterwards.
Second was on a B767, again on the nose, very similar.
For some years I monitored the stats of my (former) employer's fleet, and the rate was about 1 strike per airframe per year, utilisation being about 4000 hr per year.
First on a B737 going into NCL, about 6 miles finals, only moderate Cu around. No warning, big flash, big bang, as we got a strike on the nose just outside the FO's front window. No effect on the aircraft at all. We did find a small burn mark on the nose afterwards.
Second was on a B767, again on the nose, very similar.
For some years I monitored the stats of my (former) employer's fleet, and the rate was about 1 strike per airframe per year, utilisation being about 4000 hr per year.
Joined: Dec 2001
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From: down-route
Uneasy Pleistocene Leftover
Joined: Feb 2003
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From: Gone, but not forgotten apparently?! All forums marked "Private"...
Not a lot of people know this I'm told, but just before lightning strikes an airliner, the GPWS will often go off with a whoop whoop pull up... 
(Hope it makes more sense here False Capture)
(Hope it makes more sense here False Capture)
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 190
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From: The Crew Room
hi guys
i was involved in an incident over the mid atlantic, mid turbulence (the usual do) and everythin went quiet. there was a low pulsing purple light that went from front to back (767-300 series) really really slowly, like if you watched a flourescent tube come on from one end over 5 mins in slow motion and then it was gone.
scorch marks below flight deck and apu!
i was involved in an incident over the mid atlantic, mid turbulence (the usual do) and everythin went quiet. there was a low pulsing purple light that went from front to back (767-300 series) really really slowly, like if you watched a flourescent tube come on from one end over 5 mins in slow motion and then it was gone.
scorch marks below flight deck and apu!
Joined: Oct 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
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From: Den Haag
It can be fairly bad news for helicopters; composite blades, sharp angles at the tail rotor tips, lots of gear teeth to spot weld each other etc. My last company lost an aircraft shortly after a strike (tail rotor shook itself to bits) but the 18 POB survived the ditching, and another a/c lost a main blade that had been previously damaged (but cleared as serviceable by the manufacturer) in a strike. sadly, you don't survive blade shedding!
Joined: Dec 2000
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 1,271
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From: Various
Seem to remember an FO in the UK losing his medical after a strike hitting the side window and Btzzzzing him. Might (?) have read it in the Balpa mag years ago.
btw. 14 scorch marks on my 757 passing a single small cell at 12,000 over POS vor near Palma,Majorca. No night stop, though (bugger!)
btw. 14 scorch marks on my 757 passing a single small cell at 12,000 over POS vor near Palma,Majorca. No night stop, though (bugger!)
.
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 865
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From: Cheshire, California, Geneva, and Paris
I was a passenger on a flight on finals for LHR once. A load bang occurs when the aeroplane gets a lightning strike. The five year old boy in the row in front of me leaps to his feet and exclaims "**** me!, What was that!. The cabin was in uproar, but not his parents I hasten to add.
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: Sussex, UK
There is an interesting AAIB report into a lighting strike on an Embraer ERJ here:
http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/cms_resou...RJXG_11-05.pdf
Potted version:
Looks like the hot air from the lightning discharge along the fuselage caused an EGT overtemp so the FADEC shut down the engine. An interesting report, particularly the recomendations at the back end.
http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/cms_resou...RJXG_11-05.pdf
Potted version:
Looks like the hot air from the lightning discharge along the fuselage caused an EGT overtemp so the FADEC shut down the engine. An interesting report, particularly the recomendations at the back end.
