ASW 27 destroyed by lightning in trailer

At 13:02 26 September 2019,
John_DeRosa_OHM_Ω_http://aviation.derosaweb.net wrote:
Question: Would a CF glider in an aluminum topped trailer have survived a
lightning strike?

Expiring minds want to know (that happens to own a '27 stored in an
aluminum Cobra trailer).

- John

Is an "expiring mind" a form of memory loss?

To limit future liability?

At 13:26 26 September 2019, John Perry wrote:
At 13:02 26 September 2019,
John_DeRosa_OHM_Ω_http://aviation.derosaweb.net wrote:
Question: Would a CF glider in an aluminum topped trailer have survived
a
lightning strike?

Expiring minds want to know (that happens to own a '27 stored in an
aluminum Cobra trailer).

- John

Is an "expiring mind" a form of memory loss?

How about a Faraday cage if the trailer is matal skined, the
the glider should be safe inside it.
KF

On Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 8:21:40 PM UTC-4, 2G wrote:
On Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 12:13:26 PM UTC-7, wrote:
As I understand it, lightning is seeking the path of least resistance to the ground. It went through the fiberglass trailer top and entered the ship at the top of the fin, question would be; where did it exit? The ship is sitting on rubber wheels (tail wheel and dolly wheels), so did it exit at the tail wheel into the aluminum floor, then to the rear legs, if they were down? Or, did it run the full length of the fuselage and exit through the saddle aluminum arms, then jump the rubber tires then into the floor out to the tongue and into the chains. To the tie-down point? Also, did it fry that good looking instrument panel on its way to ground? I believe other lightning strikes followed the metal push-rods, which offer less resistance than carbon fiber structure.
Food for thought, before placing your bid + that Cobra trailer is worth something close to 10K.
Cheers,
JJ

It looks like the current went down the pushrods and exited somewhere near the nose and thru the trailer floor. Carbon fiber is conductive, but high resistance to the point that commercial composite aircraft must include conductors to handle lightning current (https://www.compositesworld.com/arti...site-aircraft). I guess that the fuselage is okay with the possible exception of welded pushrod junctions. The instruments condition is unknown, but could be inspected. The most vulnerable instruments are the radio and transponder, and current could have jumped from them to other instruments.

Tom

I could not get any sense of where the exit point was.
How did you? or is this an educated guess?
I agree path likely got to push rods.
UH

I believe I have a couple hundred hours in THAT ship (based on "N number"), sad to see it's demise.....:-(

On Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 1:07:38 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 8:21:40 PM UTC-4, 2G wrote:
On Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 12:13:26 PM UTC-7, wrote:
As I understand it, lightning is seeking the path of least resistance to the ground. It went through the fiberglass trailer top and entered the ship at the top of the fin, question would be; where did it exit? The ship is sitting on rubber wheels (tail wheel and dolly wheels), so did it exit at the tail wheel into the aluminum floor, then to the rear legs, if they were down? Or, did it run the full length of the fuselage and exit through the saddle aluminum arms, then jump the rubber tires then into the floor out to the tongue and into the chains. To the tie-down point? Also, did it fry that good looking instrument panel on its way to ground? I believe other lightning strikes followed the metal push-rods, which offer less resistance than carbon fiber structure.
Food for thought, before placing your bid + that Cobra trailer is worth something close to 10K.
Cheers,
JJ

It looks like the current went down the pushrods and exited somewhere near the nose and thru the trailer floor. Carbon fiber is conductive, but high resistance to the point that commercial composite aircraft must include conductors to handle lightning current (https://www.compositesworld.com/arti...site-aircraft). I guess that the fuselage is okay with the possible exception of welded pushrod junctions. The instruments condition is unknown, but could be inspected. The most vulnerable instruments are the radio and transponder, and current could have jumped from them to other instruments.

Tom

I could not get any sense of where the exit point was.
How did you? or is this an educated guess?
I agree path likely got to push rods.
UH

The photo of the trailer showed a strike mark near the front of the trailer where the carpet ends. This indicated to me that it exited out of the bottom of the nose.

Tom

On Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 1:09:18 PM UTC-7, Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot) wrote:
I believe I have a couple hundred hours in THAT ship (based on "N number"), sad to see it's demise.....:-(

I think the glider can be repaired, and the damage is not that great.

Tom

On Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 6:02:34 AM UTC-7, John DeRosa OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net wrote:
Question: Would a CF glider in an aluminum topped trailer have survived a lightning strike?

Expiring minds want to know (that happens to own a '27 stored in an aluminum Cobra trailer).

- John

I don't think that this would have happened to an aluminum-topped trailer because the trailer would have acted as a Faraday cage, and the current would flowed thru the trailer and around the glider.

Tom

On Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 9:31:39 PM UTC-4, 2G wrote:
On Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 6:02:34 AM UTC-7, John DeRosa OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net wrote:
Question: Would a CF glider in an aluminum topped trailer have survived a lightning strike?

Expiring minds want to know (that happens to own a '27 stored in an aluminum Cobra trailer).

- John

I don't think that this would have happened to an aluminum-topped trailer because the trailer would have acted as a Faraday cage, and the current would flowed thru the trailer and around the glider.



Tom


Whatever the trailer was made of; That glider was at the wrong place at the wrong time...

And, lightning does not take the least path of resistance. It takes many paths... Unlucky for this poor soul... One of the pics has my 27 inside the hangar..!!!! She likes it there...

On Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 8:27:06 PM UTC-5, 2G wrote:

The photo of the trailer showed a strike mark near the front of the trailer where the carpet ends. This indicated to me that it exited out of the bottom of the nose.

Tom

Hi Tom,
Looks to me like that picture is looking up into the fin box. I don't see any gray floor in that pic, but black like in the glass top of the trailer. There is red carpet visible in the elevator drive box, and burn marks on the white foam (owner added?) that might kinda line up with the top of the vertical being in there.

Just another opinion.
Steve Leonard