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How Dangerous Is Lightning to a Jetliner?
FOXNews By Andrea Thompson AP Undated photo taken at Houston’s George Bush International Airport shows the Air France Airbus 330-200 which has been reported missing. Video: Plane Vanishes Off Brazil; 228 Aboard The Associated Press Doubts over lightning’s role in missing jetliner Reuters Voice of America |
According to Fox News:
Lightning
A handful of jets have been blown up by lightning, including a Pan American flight in 1963 that killed 83 people. But radar and other improvements in weather forecasting now make thunderstorms — and their lightning — easier to avoid.
In the early 1980s, NASA flew a jet into a thunderstorm on a test. It was hit 72 times in 45 minutes and gave scientists valuable data.
Commercial planes are still hit about once a year, research from the University of Florida has shown.
A strike typically starts at a wingtip, nose or tail and courses through the aircraft’s skin, which is often made of aluminum — a good conductor.
Many strikes are initiated by the plane itself, and most occur during the climb to cruising altitude or descent and when the plane is in a cloud.
The plane’s lights might flicker, but most of the energy just heads back into the sky if there are no gaps in the aircraft’s skin.
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Editors Notes…
A scary thought indeed but it’s nice to know that in most cases lightening is really not a problem. But in the case of this plane no matter what the cause, it looks like they weren’t quite so lucky. A sad, sad day for many folks. My thoughts and prayers are with them all. And I’m sure everyone here in Naperville feels the same way.
