What would happen if lightning hit one of our planes while flying?

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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I was flying around a little storm last week and I felt like I was a good distance away from it then I saw some lightning close enough to me to scare me a little.
I have been hit by lightning in a car and it was a minor event. I have seen videos of airliners getting struck. What happens if I get struck by lightning in a piper while flying?
 
Sounds like another video coming up! “I flew this plane into lightning to see what happens” … do it!
 
I've never seen a GA lightning strike. Airliners usualy plenty of pits in the skin as the plane moves through it's path. Like it stiches down the length of the fuselage. Sometimes entry and exit or a static wick blows off. Seen a Jetstream 32 that took a strike to the prop. Crew didn't report it, one of the guys found it on a 7 day inspection. It looked like it hit the #1 prop and exited on trailing edge of the flap and near top of vertical stab. Prop looked like someone took a bite out of it. Same with trailing edge of flap. Nickel sized hole in the stab. In as much as it was power by the hour setup and it passed through the engine bearings, it was an engine change.
 
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Lightning strikes can cause unpredictable and severe damage to critical components of the Lycoming
engine. For example, heat from the lightning strike can cause internal damage to the hardened surfaces of
parts such as ball bearings, crankshaft bearing surfaces, camshaft lobes, gear teeth, etc. In addition, lightning
strikes can cause electrical damage to electronically-controlled engines that may not be apparent from a
visual inspection.
 
For a King Air I used to associate with they had to tear down the engines because it magnetized the bearings.

I’ve heard of a couple where it caused some intermittent electrical issues.
 
I've read that composite may explode from lightning strikes.
 
donjohnston said:
I would think much more of a non-event than if my Velocity got hit. :eek:
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I read this as "I would think it would be much more of a non-event if my Velocity got hit" and thought you were nuts until I re-read.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
What happens if I get struck by lightning in a piper while flying?
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Usually nothing given the construction type, materials used, and size of those small private aircraft. But it does happen and more often than people think even at the “Piper” level. Plus the damage from a strike tends to be minute and often confused for corrosion or a paint defect.

However, as noted, one common result is residual magnetism left in the iron based components like crankshafts or a steel tube frame. Which in turn can induce various avionics issues on occasion with older Part 91 composite built aircraft being more susceptible due to a lack of an integral grounding mesh like newer composite aircraft have.
 
I got hit one night flying a C414. It knocked out the radios for 5 or so minutes. The A/P was usable again after a minute. As soon as the radios were usable again I called ATC and let them know what happened. The only physical damage found was a crack in the nose cone about 2 inches long. Fortunately when it happened I was looking out the left side to see if any ice was forming on the wing so the flash of lightning did not screw up my vision.
 
Years ago we were flying back from Oshkosh and went through a thin rain shower. All of a sudden the entire cabin lit up. I thought we'd been struck by lightning but nothing seemed amiss. I turned around and realized what had happened was that my son and decided to take a picture of the rainbow, but the automatic flash on his camera decided to fire.
 
I’ve read some mfg’s inspection criteria.
It can get very expensive, hopefully your insurance would be there.
 
Back when i was very active in my training, I was blessed to have attended a presentation by Bruce Fisher. It was put on as part of an early FAA Wings program at my local field (KJGG), back when that program was first getting kicked off. Anyway, it was a fascinating lecture
www.f-106deltadart.com

F-106 Delta Dart NASA Lightening Strikes

Read the history of NASA Lightening Strike research using he F-106 Delta Dart Ultimate Interceptor as it serverd for 30 years in NASA projects.
www.f-106deltadart.com www.f-106deltadart.com
basically they purposely flew into T-Storms to see what would happen
probably lots of other info on the study they did out there too, if you search for it...
The strike enters at whatever point and exits at some other point. The takeaway as I recall it anyway, was that mostly it's a non-event but sometimes stuff happens
One photo he had in his slideshow I remember clearly. It wasn't part of their study, just some side research or examples that he had. It was the leading edge of a small GA aircraft that had been hit on a wingtip in flight. The lightning got into the nav light power wire and traveled out the opposite wingtip. The magnetic field generated in the wire (look up "right-hand rule" if you're not familiar) collapsed the wing's leading edge. Basically...you know how the curve looks on the leading edge? To simplify, call the cross-section shape a half circle, right? Convex. Well, the newly modified wing was the same except it was concave! Apparently, the plan landed safely.

A personal story that I've often wondered about how this would apply to GA aircraft.... especially now with all the microchip stuff we use now...
When I was a kid, I was fishing offshore with my dad in his little boat, a 23ft Penn Yan flying bridge. We found ourselves inside a little thunderstorm. Visibility from the inside helm was just about to the bow of the boat. We were motoring at idle speed...flashBANG. I was standing in the cabin at the open door with rain splashing on my legs from the rain. I felt the electric buzz...like licking a 9-volt battery
Everything in the boat shut down...nothing worked... but we were still floating. So we dropped the anchor till the rain passed. Then started fishing again until someone happened by to tow us in.
Found out later that it had struck the top of the CB radio antenna. Everything electrical on the boat that was powered on was either burned up or literally a melted pile of goo. Lights that were switched on, the electronic ignition module, the windshield wiper motor, etc. Everything electrical that was switched off was still ok after we got power back.... every light, the other windshield wiper motor that was off, etc... So it got into the electrical system and traveled everywhere. I've never understood though how the little DC switches used to control the circuits that we off had enough interrupt rating to save those devices.
 
Zeldman said:
I got hit one night flying a C414. It knocked out the radios for 5 or so minutes. The A/P was usable again after a minute. As soon as the radios were usable again I called ATC and let them know what happened. The only physical damage found was a crack in the nose cone about 2 inches long. Fortunately when it happened I was looking out the left side to see if any ice was forming on the wing so the flash of lightning did not screw up my vision.
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It's honestly not as bright like one would assume. Just a white line.
 
I heard of a Cessna’s engine mount getting magnetized by a lightning strike. Compass became useless.
 
I was teaching at the Marine Biological Lab at Woods Hole, MA. During a coffee break, lightning struck the building across from us. It wasn't just one strike- we all jumped and the subsequent strokes were like a strobe light- I saw someone's coffee suspended in a ball shape above their cup.
 
FORANE said:
I've read that composite may explode from lightning strikes.
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Airplanes like the Cirrus and Cessna Corvalis have metal screen embedded in the composite to take strike safely through the airframe.

Wooden airplanes, if they have no wingtip-to-wingtip and nose-to-tail wiring, can explode. The moisture remaining in the wood turns to steam and blows structure apart. I stayed a LONG way from any storm when flying my Jodel.
 
This one hit the tail, exited through the nosewheel and blew up an access cover on the pavement, while the aircraft was parked at the gate. Definitely a brown trouser moment for the ramp crew.
www.military.com

Lightning Strikes Commercial Aircraft

Lightning strikes a Copa Airlines (a Continental affiliate) airplane at the gate on May 12, 2011. You'll need to watch it several times to see all of the action; It's only about 10 seconds duration. Three key things/areas to watch. first watch the
www.military.com www.military.com
 
To be sure the subject of lightning effects and prevention of sparks in large aircraft fuel tanks has been huge since the SFAR 88 initatives I first saw around 2000. I've watched and participated in projects involving thousands of hours of analysis and design reviews. There have been countless training seminars. HIRF and lightning are sometimes lumped together. Good bonding also controls P-static. At one point, when I was at Delta, we literally had to go back and try to verify ALL added wiring that had more than something like 15 joules of energy had no path to a fuel tank. That's all wiring added by all STCs on all fleets. There's hundreds of years of reading out there. Here is a starter (link below) . You either provide a low impedance path for lightning or it makes one. If it makes one, it will involve heating. There are different physics models for understanding different effects of electricity. Some are better than others for understanding lightning. https://www.slideserve.com/nyssa-reilly/sfar-88-related-operating-rules-special-maintenance-requirements-compliance-planning-briefing#:~:text=Special Maintenance Requirements • Instructions for maintenance and inspection (a.k.a.
 
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Dan Thomas said:
Airplanes like the Cirrus and Cessna Corvalis have metal screen embedded in the composite to take strike safely through the airframe.
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My understanding is that the reason the Diamond DA-20 is certified for IFR flight but not IMC is because it doesn’t have the necessary electrical bonding in the composite structure.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Airplanes like the Cirrus and Cessna Corvalis have metal screen embedded in the composite to take strike safely through the airframe.

Wooden airplanes, if they have no wingtip-to-wingtip and nose-to-tail wiring, can explode. The moisture remaining in the wood turns to steam and blows structure apart. I stayed a LONG way from any storm when flying my Jodel.
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Yeah, I had heard some were doing that. I have also heard of using metallic paint for antenna ground planes; I wonder if that may offer some protection. My Lancair doesn't have this protection. I would venture a guess that most composite experimental aircraft lack this protection. What about carbon fiber aircraft, are the considered lightning strike safe?
 
While my fiberglass homebuilt has no lightning protection, certified aircraft are required to have some protection for a lightning strike.

I was flying at work one day and my flight nurse expressed concern about observed lightning from a nearby storm. I told him that’s the least of my concerns when encountering a thunderstorm. Of course he was confused because of his beliefs in the dangers of a strike. Thought I was lying when I told him we were sitting in a faraday cage and our blades had special “metallic paint” for strikes. ;)
 
FORANE said:
I have also heard of using metallic paint for antenna ground planes; I wonder if that may offer some protection
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Not really. Lightning protection paths need resistances of a fraction of a miliohm to ensure minimal resistive heating for the typical 200,000A currents encountered during a strike.
Conductive paint is good for antenna ground planes and HIRF protection (copper mesh is still the gold standard), but otherwise it will just turn into plasma when that kind of current goes through it.
 
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