question about lightning

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




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