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Gavin Andrew David

Aircraft struck by Lightning

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Was at MAS Hangar , Line 1 , where PK-GZO was being ' refurbished '

Noticed something interesting

pkgzovd8.jpg

This is what happens when lightning strikes an aircraft .

Paint was removed to assess the damage further

 

Special credit goes to those who made this visit happen .

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Thanks for sharing Gavin.

 

I remember last time I saw an b747 taking off in raining and struck by lighting. But she still did her take off and didn't return to the airport... I forgot where I saw that...

 

Chan

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I remember last time I saw an b747 taking off in raining and struck by lighting. But she still did her take off and didn't return to the airport... I forgot where I saw that...

 

Was there any major damage done to the aircraft?

 

 

Sounds weird; usually when an airplane gets hit by lightning, it dumps fuel (maybe burns fuel) and makes an emergency landing at a closest airport :huh:

 

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thousands of electric volt, that is even more powerfull then steel welding.

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Modern aircraft are built so that the outer skin absorbs all the lightning without endangering the passengers and other payload. There may be a limit as to how much current the aircraft shell can take.

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Was there any major damage done to the aircraft?

Sounds weird; usually when an airplane gets hit by lightning, it dumps fuel (maybe burns fuel) and makes an emergency landing at a closest airport :huh:

 

Normally you SUSPECT a lightning strike. IF there is a major damage (compass going haywire etc.) then maybe you should land imediately. Otherwise you just continue flying and report the strike to the ground engineer later for further action if necessary.

 

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no wonder after paint the aircraft increase a lot in weight. The paint it self is like another layer for the aircraft.

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no wonder after paint the aircraft increase a lot in weight. The paint it self is like another layer for the aircraft.

 

you got that right

 

Ever heard that 9M-MRD (Heliconia 777) is 2 tons heavier then other MH regular 777. The paint for the heliconia texture alone is 2 tons, i wonder how heavy the hibiscus is.

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I saw on a docu channel long time ago. forgot which channel. it said that the airplane structure is designed to somewhat absorbed or channelled to the ground. it showed a footage of a taking off airplane. it got strucked by a lightning at the nose cone and the lightning continued from the end of the fuselage where the tail is, to the ground... amazing! the plane kept flying...

Edited by Yusoff

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Normally you SUSPECT a lightning strike. IF there is a major damage (compass going haywire etc.) then maybe you should land imediately. Otherwise you just continue flying and report the strike to the ground engineer later for further action if necessary.

 

How do you SUSPECT a lightning strike? 3 years ago, I was on an AK B733 flight from BKI and while approaching KUL 14L in a thunderstorm, there was a bright flash and a loud bang at the back and the plane shook and dropped a bit. But no prob. I suspect it was a lightning strike.

 

Anyway here are some boffins' answers on the subject matter.

 

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/wea00/wea00024.htm

http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae568.cfm

 

+++

 

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yaiks..

 

i never ever want a lightning strike the plane that iam onboarding!!

 

yer...tads sound serious!!

 

i ever take 1 flight to shanghai from singapore at mid9 n land at morning..

 

guess wat...

 

i thought i will have a good night sleep in da plane but not!!

 

after half way, rain comes heavily!!.

 

lightning here n there as i look out the window!!

 

fortunately dint strike the plane as i am onboarding a quite old plane(A300)........

 

nightmare ar~~

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For a lightning strike defect on an aircraft, normally there are only 2 spots will get damaged. 1st, it will be on the spot where it been struck and 2nd would be the static wick due to high voltage was discharged.

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My experience about lightning and plane was during my flight on board Continental 737-500 from LAX to IAH. Aprox 30 minutes befaore scheduled landing at IAH, our plane was hold to circle because of a bad thunderstorm nearby the airport. we could see lightning from above since the cloud is lower then usual. about 20 minutes before landing, there's was a lightning strike the ground and it missed the wing by approx 100 meters. however, it's a bit shaky that time and the cabin light suddenly dimmed for a few seconds.

 

here's what the pilot announce about the weather

 

"...the weather in Houston is not really good, there's a thunderstorm moving in from Southeast. It will be a bumpy flight...."

 

pilot announcement during holding patern, seat belt sing is turned on

 

"...All passengers please have you seat belt buckled. We'll be going through a bumpy approach which crosswind may be possible, don't worry we will take care of you all...."

 

that was one scary announcement

 

It turned out that, there's no crosswind but the landing was damn bumpy even some of the everhead compartment was accidently opened

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yaiks..

 

i never ever want a lightning strike the plane that iam onboarding!!

 

yer...tads sound serious!!

 

i ever take 1 flight to shanghai from singapore at mid9 n land at morning..

 

guess wat...

 

i thought i will have a good night sleep in da plane but not!!

 

after half way, rain comes heavily!!.

 

lightning here n there as i look out the window!!

 

fortunately dint strike the plane as i am onboarding a quite old plane(A300)........

 

nightmare ar~~

 

 

Why the plane wasn't above the cloud while en routing? And you can even see the rain?

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My experience about lightning and plane was during my flight on board Continental 737-500 from LAX to IAH. Aprox 30 minutes befaore scheduled landing at IAH, our plane was hold to circle because of a bad thunderstorm nearby the airport. we could see lightning from above since the cloud is lower then usual. about 20 minutes before landing, there's was a lightning strike the ground and it missed the wing by approx 100 meters. however, it's a bit shaky that time and the cabin light suddenly dimmed for a few seconds.

...

 

I'm curious as to how you managed to estimate this miss to be ~100m.

 

+++

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Thanks for sharing Gavin.

 

I remember last time I saw an b747 taking off in raining and struck by lighting. But she still did her take off and didn't return to the airport... I forgot where I saw that...

 

Chan

 

Is that the one on TV? If so, I saw it too and I think it happened in Japan B)

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I'm curious as to how you managed to estimate this miss to be ~100m.

 

+++

 

 

I was informed by the pilot after we landed. He also mention that the compas was haywire for a while.

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