Author Topic: lightning strike (Read 621 times)

gear · « **on:** January 30, 2006, 08:26:38 PM »

http://carcino.gen.nz/images/image.phpi/377c5253/airplanelightning.gif?cb=1115204527

Maverick · « **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2006, 11:21:17 AM »

Image not found on 2 posts by you to the same site. Perhaps you should give up. You're 0 for 2 so far.

BlueJ1 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 31, 2006, 02:38:10 PM »

gear · « **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2006, 05:35:04 PM »

http://carcino.gen.nz/images/image.phpi/377c5253/airplanelightning.gif

Airscrew · « **Reply #4 on:** January 31, 2006, 05:37:47 PM »

nope, strike 2, image not found

gear · « **Reply #5 on:** January 31, 2006, 05:45:44 PM »

I'll keep workn it,there i fixed it:aok

BlueJ1 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 31, 2006, 06:33:47 PM »

strike three.

Mustaine · « **Reply #7 on:** January 31, 2006, 06:38:17 PM »

hosted it on picture hangar (if you right click copy and paste his shortcut it works, i think the site doesn't allow remote hosting)

actually WOW

BlueJ1 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 31, 2006, 07:12:02 PM »

Wow...

Question. the second flash. Would that be another strike of lightning or is that the charge that tends to return back up to the cloud after strikig something?

gear · « **Reply #9 on:** January 31, 2006, 07:43:15 PM »

Looks like a second strike.

Airscrew · « **Reply #10 on:** January 31, 2006, 09:49:54 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by gear
Looks like a second strike.

definitely looks like two strikes.

I wonder how the plane fared after that, and the noise too.

When I was thirteen we were staying in my grandmothers cabin in Pine Az, thunderstorm came up, and we were sitting by a large picture window in the front of the cabin. My mom says something about we shouldnt be sitting so close to the window during the storm with all the possible lightning. About the time we get up to move, lightning strikes about 30 feet from the cabin, hitting a large pondarosa pine and about 10 inches from our 1972 Ford Country Squire station wagon. CRACK!!! BANG!!! BOOM!!! and bright orange light.
We go out side later and theres bark everywhere and a big scorch mark down the side of the tree.

Lightnings cool

Ripsnort · « **Reply #11 on:** January 31, 2006, 10:01:53 PM »

Quote

A: Lightning regularly strikes airplanes. In fact, as far as anyone knows, the odds are that each airliner in the USA will be hit by lightning once a year. (Obviously some would be hit more than once, some not at all.)

But, lightning has not caused an airliner crash in the USA or of a U.S. airline plane anywhere in more than 40 years.

Protection begins with the fact that airliners, and the majority of other airplanes, are made of aluminum, which is a very good electrical conductor. A lightning bolt's electricity flows along the airplane's skin and into the air. As you've found out, one danger is that the flash could blind the pilots for a few seconds, but I've never found any accounts of this causing any problems.

Lightning protection goes far beyond airplanes being good conductors of electricity, and the last airline crash in the USA blamed on lightning was more than 40 years ago. On December 8, 1962 lighting hit a Pan American Boeing 707 in a holding pattern over Elkton, Md. The lightning caused a spark that ignited fuel vapor in a tank, causing an explosion that brought the plane down, killing all 81 aboard.

This led to rules requiring that airplanes have built-in systems that ensure that a spark will not ignite fuel or fuel vapors in tanks or fuel lines.

Then, during a 1980s lightning research project, NASA flew an F-106B jet into 1,400 thunderstorms and lightning hit it at least 700 times. The lightning didn't damage the airplane, but the data the jet collected showed that lighting could induce relatively small electrical currents that could damage electronic systems.

This led to regulations that require aircraft electrical and electronic systems, as well as fuel tanks and lines, to have built-in lightning protection.

As you've also found out, thunderstorms offer plenty of other dangers and pilots try to stay away from them, especially strong thunderstorms. (Related: Why pilots try to avoid thunderstorms).

If pilots try to avoid thunderstorms, how come lightning continues to hit airplanes? A few reasons: All thunderstorms, especially small ones can't always be avoided. Lightning often flashes into the air, and to the ground, a few miles from the thunderstorm that generates it. Finally, an airplane or a rocket flying into a cloud that's built up an electric charge can trigger a lightning stroke even though the cloud isn't producing any lightning on its own.

I've searched the National Transportation Safety Board online database and other aircraft accident databases, and haven't come up with any reports of lightning causing any airline crashes in the USA or Europe since the 1981 crash of a small airliner in Germany that killed 21 people. I also found a report of a Chinese-built airliner crashing in China in 2000 after it was hit by lightning, but no details were available, and I have no idea when the Chinese airliner was built or what kind of lightning protection rules were in force when it was built.

All in all, as long as you are traveling on an airplane built in the USA or Europe or a domestic or foreign airline that operates in the USA, the only danger you could face from lightning would be if you happen to board or get off the plane at an airport where you walk down steps and across the ramp into the building. I don't think I'd want to do that if a thunderstorm were around. But, I'd hope that the airline I'm flying on would not want to expose its employees, much less the paying customers, to the danger of being hit by lightning.

REP0MAN · « **Reply #12 on:** February 01, 2006, 03:13:09 AM »

Airscrew,

Living in Phoenix, I go to the Rim country up around Payson and Pine frequently. One year we were up on the rim there by Woods Canyon Lake turnoff in the summer when the storms creep up on ya. I felt all the hair on my arms and neck stand straight up. B A N G ! ! ! ! Before I knew it, lightning hit the tree I was standing next to. Bright orange and white light. We watched the electricity run down the tree and into the ground. Cut a wicked trench in the tree. Was like a grenade went off in my ear. I seriously couldnt hear for a few hours. Scary.

Off topic, you wouldnt belive what Pine looks like now. We got these tree killing beetles up there now killing off all the pine trees. Still a beautiful and peacefull place tho.

Saintaw · « **Reply #13 on:** February 01, 2006, 04:20:29 AM »

Mehehe... this reminds me of a Heathrow-Zaventem flight in 2001. We were struck by lightning (flight was pretty rough already) ... it went "BANG!" a big flash of light... then most of the lights went out. Everyone started panicking... and a fat lady siting two seats from me didn't stop screaming untill the plane had landed and stopped.

Rolex · « **Reply #14 on:** February 01, 2006, 06:10:20 AM »

I'll bet everyone was glad she didn't start singing, huh?