question about lightning

Flew round trip from Troutdale, OR to Coeur d'Alene Idaho last night in a
PA-28R and hit a weather system that was reported to be much further south.
The weather brief mentioned isolated thunderstorms that would dissipate
after sunset.

To make a long story short, the weather turned ugly and between Spokane and
Tri-Cities I filed a PIREP noting that there was lighting bursting once per
minute or more from the cloud layer directly on the victor airway, and much
more activity developing to the north. Meanwhile, a SIGMET had been issued
further south reporting hail 1" in diameter. Not going that way...

I could see the lights of the city ahead and two giant murky areas which I
avoided. No rain, but as I was filing the PIREP lightning started blazing
on either side of me, ahead of me, and arcing and corksscrewing over the top
of me from cloud to cloud. Meanwhile, all the ATIS and AWOS reported calm
winds and unrestricted visibility and the FSS reported nothing on the radar
in my way. I noticed that the lightning was coming from three distinct
clouds, all moving north, and I could see Tri-Cities between them so I
observed the hole for awhile to make sure it wasn't going to close on me,
figured out with the DME about how long it would take me to get past them,
checked the chart to make sure it was safe to deviate from the airway at
altitude, set the throttle a little higher and ran the gauntlet without
further problem except for the occasional unnerving flash of lightning
behind me somewhere. Took all the fun out of the flight, though.

Question: Anybody ever been hit by lightning in a small plane? What
happens?

-c

A friend of mine tells me that he one had lighting flash nearby in his
Glassair III. It was close enough to shut down all the electronics in
the aircraft. Radios, GPS, Etc all shutdown. The magnetos kept going
just fine and he says he is really glad he hadn't installed electronic
ignition.

After a few minutes he recycled the power on the electronics and
everything came back up.
------------

I have the May 2002 Soaring Magazine on my desk. It has an article
about a sailplane that was hit by lighting. The pilot describes it as
"There was a momentary white-out and I found myself instinctively
hunched down in the cockpit of my glider with the wind in my face."
At 1st the pilot thought maybe his Oxygen bottle had exploded or he
had had a Mid-air collision. The pilot described the airplane as
flying normally, even thought the canopy was missing, but the controls
felt "Lumpy". He was able to land the glider normally.

Here are some excerpts from the article.

"The post mortem of the glider showed that the canopy had exploded
outward (not a single piece of loose Plexiglass was found in the
cockpit)" , " The fuselage underside was split from the nose back to
the main wheel", " The burning smell was the vaporized grounding cable
from the towhook to the rudder pedal assembly, and my scorched shoes
and socks.", " The control rod bearings throughtout the glider had
been temporarily welded together, and had then broken loose (that's
why the controls felt 'Lumpy'" "The cockpit and fuselage had been
overpressurized by heated air causing the canopy to explode outward
and the fuselage to split"

Be careful out there.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

Composite airframes are a special case. Metal airframes can easily
handle it, maybe just damaging fiberglass tips and doing stuff to
avionics also.

F--

wrote in message
ps.com...
Composite airframes are a special case. Metal airframes can easily
handle it, maybe just damaging fiberglass tips and doing stuff to
avionics also.

Okay, I WILL share that one with my wife. :

-c

"Brian" wrote in message
oups.com...

"The post mortem of the glider showed that the canopy had exploded outward
(not a single piece of loose Plexiglass was found in the
cockpit)" , " The fuselage underside was split from the nose back to the
main wheel", " The burning smell was the vaporized grounding cable
from the towhook to the rudder pedal assembly, and my scorched shoes and
socks.", " The control rod bearings throughtout the glider had
been temporarily welded together, and had then broken loose (that's why
the controls felt 'Lumpy'" "The cockpit and fuselage had been
overpressurized by heated air causing the canopy to explode outward and
the fuselage to split"

Be careful out there.

Uh....

I don't think I better share that one with my wife. Thanks, though.

I'd have landed but automated weather at the nearest airfield was reporting
wind at 18 gusting to 28, not lined up with the runway. Uncontrolled field,
small strip, night, never been there, didn't have a diagram in the
facilities directory.

Got through it by thinking that perhaps this is a slight taste of what every
combat pilot ever experienced and remembering what my grandfather said about
flak, which is that it was there and there was little else to do but ride it
out. Definately a learning experience. (Seattle radio reported no
significant weather activity there when I activated my flight plan.)

-c

On Mon, 04 Jun 2007 09:03:51 -0700, Brian wrote:

It has an article
about a sailplane that was hit by lighting.


Fortunately, an aluminum aircraft forms a Faraday cage.

A Faraday cage blocks out external static electrical fields by directing
the charge around the outside of the fuselage. This is not to say that
damage can't occur to the electrical system because it's not a perfect
cage. Composite aircraft don't share this protection.


--
Dallas

An ASK21 glider was hit by lightning in the UK a number of years ago. The
accident report can be found at:

http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/cms_resou...pdf_500699.pdf

It is an absolute miracle that both pilots survived this incident. The
accident report is a must read for anyone thinking of flying anywhere near a
thunderstorm. Of particular interest is the description of the hollow
aluminum aileron push rod, which was imploded into a solid bar by the
magnetic field of the lightning's current that was conducted by the bar
inside the wing structure. This really generates some respect for the
forces at play in this kind of weather.

Mike Schumann

"Brian" wrote in message
oups.com...

A friend of mine tells me that he one had lighting flash nearby in his
Glassair III. It was close enough to shut down all the electronics in
the aircraft. Radios, GPS, Etc all shutdown. The magnetos kept going
just fine and he says he is really glad he hadn't installed electronic
ignition.

After a few minutes he recycled the power on the electronics and
everything came back up.
------------

I have the May 2002 Soaring Magazine on my desk. It has an article
about a sailplane that was hit by lighting. The pilot describes it as
"There was a momentary white-out and I found myself instinctively
hunched down in the cockpit of my glider with the wind in my face."
At 1st the pilot thought maybe his Oxygen bottle had exploded or he
had had a Mid-air collision. The pilot described the airplane as
flying normally, even thought the canopy was missing, but the controls
felt "Lumpy". He was able to land the glider normally.

Here are some excerpts from the article.

"The post mortem of the glider showed that the canopy had exploded
outward (not a single piece of loose Plexiglass was found in the
cockpit)" , " The fuselage underside was split from the nose back to
the main wheel", " The burning smell was the vaporized grounding cable
from the towhook to the rudder pedal assembly, and my scorched shoes
and socks.", " The control rod bearings throughtout the glider had
been temporarily welded together, and had then broken loose (that's
why the controls felt 'Lumpy'" "The cockpit and fuselage had been
overpressurized by heated air causing the canopy to explode outward
and the fuselage to split"

Be careful out there.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"gatt" wrote in message
...

Flew round trip from Troutdale, OR to Coeur d'Alene Idaho last night in a
PA-28R and hit a weather system that was reported to be much further
south. The weather brief mentioned isolated thunderstorms that would
dissipate after sunset.

To make a long story short, the weather turned ugly and between Spokane
and Tri-Cities I filed a PIREP noting that there was lighting bursting
once per minute or more from the cloud layer directly on the victor
airway, and much more activity developing to the north. Meanwhile, a
SIGMET had been issued further south reporting hail 1" in diameter. Not
going that way...

I could see the lights of the city ahead and two giant murky areas which I
avoided. No rain, but as I was filing the PIREP lightning started blazing
on either side of me, ahead of me, and arcing and corksscrewing over the
top of me from cloud to cloud. Meanwhile, all the ATIS and AWOS reported
calm winds and unrestricted visibility and the FSS reported nothing on the
radar in my way. I noticed that the lightning was coming from three
distinct clouds, all moving north, and I could see Tri-Cities between them
so I observed the hole for awhile to make sure it wasn't going to close on
me, figured out with the DME about how long it would take me to get past
them, checked the chart to make sure it was safe to deviate from the
airway at altitude, set the throttle a little higher and ran the gauntlet
without further problem except for the occasional unnerving flash of
lightning behind me somewhere. Took all the fun out of the flight,
though.

Question: Anybody ever been hit by lightning in a small plane? What
happens?

-c





I've been hit in a C-182, and in a P-3.

The 182 hit was on a low altitude trip across S. Oregon. We had very
strong St Elmo's fire on the windshield, and the prop looked like a large
blue circle. There was a pretty bright flash, not really blinding, and the
fire was replaced by a whistling noise. We found a small hole in the lower
right side of the windshield right at the trim line, after landing. No radio
or electrical problems.

The P-3 was hit in the left horizontal stabilizer, where it blew a 5/8
inch hole. I think the Nav Light CB popped, and we heard a loud pop. No
radio or electrical problems there either.

On a related note, an ex student of mine once flew a C182 through a 60+
KVA power line on approach to the Winnemucca Nv. airport. He knocked out
lights to the airport as well as the west side of town. The 182 briefly made
a circuit between the departing ends of the cut wire. There were numerous
burn marks and holes in the Fuselage, and every piece of skin was "welded"
to the adjacent skin. The aircraft continue to fly with a now blinded pilot,
and touched down just short of the runway full power and behind the power
curve. As the airplane ran up the embankment leading to the runway, the
pilot realized he was on the ground, chopped the power and let go of the
yoke. The plane crossed the threshold, did a nose stand on the spinner, and
flopped upside down on the numbers. No one was injured. The radios and
lighting still worked. The airport manager I talked to described driving
down I-80 when there was a "nuclear" flash and he was blinded.
When he got stopped on the freeway, as his eyes were adjusting, he could
hear other cars all skidding to a stop.


Al G

"Al G" wrote in message
...

The aircraft continue to fly with a now blinded pilot, and touched down
just short of the runway full power and behind the power curve. As the
airplane ran up the embankment leading to the runway, the pilot realized he
was on the ground, chopped the power and let go of the yoke. The plane
crossed the threshold, did a nose stand on the spinner, and flopped upside
down on the numbers.

If that ever happens to me, I'm switching to skateboarding.

-c

"gatt" wrote in message
...

"Al G" wrote in message
...

The aircraft continue to fly with a now blinded pilot, and touched down
just short of the runway full power and behind the power curve. As the
airplane ran up the embankment leading to the runway, the pilot realized
he was on the ground, chopped the power and let go of the yoke. The plane
crossed the threshold, did a nose stand on the spinner, and flopped upside
down on the numbers.

If that ever happens to me, I'm switching to skateboarding.

-c

That was, more or less, the recommendation of his first 4 flight
instructors, myself included. More money than brains prevailed. Last I
heard, he was still alive, through no fault of his own.

Al G