Lightning Strike OUCH

mjg407

Well-Known Member
LightningStrike.jpg

LightningStrike.jpg
 
Nasty. Was that your bird? Amazing that on some aircraft that take strikes, you have to search high and low for the strike point, but in this case, you're amazed the airplane stayed in one piece.
 
I'm guessing that's why nosecones are made out of composites now:)

Well they've been making them out of fiberglass forever. I think that is so the radar works.

The hope is, instead of the nose tip taking the hit, the diverter strip attracts the attachment point and points it toward the airframe (metal) instead of annihilating the nose cone and sending pieces into the windshield/engines/wings.
 
Well they've been making them out of fiberglass forever. I think that is so the radar works.

I know. I was assuming that it was aluminum because of the burning (composite normally won't do that... it will melt) and from the fact there is a radar unit right below the nose cone. But then again, if this is a P3 it could be some sort of surface surveillance radar I guess.

EDIT: Nevermind. I just saw the diverter strips up top and realized the burn lines are really the burned out strips, although they do extend forward to the impact point even though the strips don't go that far. Interesting.
 
I know. I was assuming that it was aluminum because of the burning (composite normally won't do that... it will melt) and from the fact there is a radar unit right below the nose cone. But then again, if this is a P3 it could be some sort of surface surveillance radar I guess.

EDIT: Nevermind. I just saw the diverter strips up top and realized the burn lines are really the burned out strips, although they do extend forward to the impact point even though the strips don't go that far. Interesting.

Yeah, the attachment point decided to hit the center of the nosecone, then reattach at the diverter strip (my guess)

Md-11's and DC-10's have the same problem (if my memory is any good at all). Go fig, can't tell lightning what to do.

Composites will also come unglued from the heat, look like fiber sticking out.
 
Nasty. Was that your bird? Amazing that on some aircraft that take strikes, you have to search high and low for the strike point, but in this case, you're amazed the airplane stayed in one piece.
No the report I got was it was either a CAN or NZL P-3. I've seen them blow the mad boom off but never anything like this.
 
An Air Force Orion carrying 16 people was struck by lightning while on a training exercise in Canada. No one was injured in the strike on Tuesday morning (NZT) and although on-board radar gear was badly damaged the plane landed safely at an air base in Wainwright, Alberta. Wing Commander Nick Olney, Commanding Officer Number 5 Squadron, said the flight systems were checked immediately after the bolt hit and once the sortie was aborted. "The aircraft performed as designed and the aircraft radome [that sits in the nose of the plane] really took one for the team in this case." "The damage to the radome looks quite dramatic, however at no stage was structural integrity nor safety of flight compromised." A replacement radome is being sent to Canada to enable the aircraft to return to New Zealand. The Orion was part of Exercise Maple Guardian 09, a joint surveillance exercise with Canadian military.
 
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