"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