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




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Jun 4, 10:30 am, "gatt" wrote:
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 was on a ferry flight in a C-150 with a 150 Lyc headed across AZ/NM
when I saw severe weather ahead and north in the area of Lordsburg.
The winds on the ground were blowing the dust so strongly it appeared
like water flowing over the ground. I deviated south slightly to pass
around the heavy rain when I was surrounded by what I can only
describe as a "spider web" of lighting and was violently rolled upside
down. It sounded like someone fired a rifle right alongside my ear and
the hair was standing straight out all over my body. I managed to
continue the rolling motion to rightside up and continued the flight
after stuffing my heart back into my chest cavity. I didn't lose any
electrical and no signs of any damage when I landed for fuel at El
Paso.
On another occasion, a friend of mine was flying a C-402 near
Indianapolis with several corporate pax on board. He had just topped
off and was climbing out on an IFR departure when he took a lightning
strike that apparently hit the ADF antenna, traveled thru the airframe
and exited out the bottom of the right tip tank. He declared a Mayday
and landed back at Indianapolis without further incident. There was a
black spot the size of a half dollar that went from gray at the
outside to a pinpoint black in the center where fuel was leaking out
slowly. He too reported it sounded like a rifle shot going off and his
hair stood straight out.
Last summer I was crop dusting with helicopter in northern Minnesota
and had just taken on a partial load of water to rinse out my system
when my loader waved his arms and pointed to my rear. I was sitting on
top of the loading truck platform with the blades turning at idle. I
opened the door and looked to the rear and saw a nearly solid black
wall about to hit us. I couldn't get the blades back up to speed fast
enough to fly off the truck so had to sit there while the storm came
by. There were numerous lightning strikes all around us and several
within 200 yards. The wind was howling at about 50kts and the heavy
rain was blowing into the cockpit from the rear. I was actually flying
the blades and hoping I didn't get blown off the truck. Finally the
cell blew on thru after about :10-15 min and I was able to fly off the
truck and head back to the heliport base. Again, a thorough inspection
showed no apparent damage and I don't believe I got any strikes that
time.
Ol S&B
Soaring Buzzard
Infamous Worldwide pilot/instructor

"Ol Shy & Bashful" wrote in message
ups.com...


I deviated south slightly to pass
around the heavy rain when I was surrounded by what I can only
describe as a "spider web" of lighting and was violently rolled upside
down.

Curious.... what's the procedure for recovering a 150 from an upside down
attitude? (FTM, what's the procedure for an Arrow?)

-c

On 06/05/07 09:45, gatt wrote:
"Ol Shy & Bashful" wrote in message
ups.com...


I deviated south slightly to pass
around the heavy rain when I was surrounded by what I can only
describe as a "spider web" of lighting and was violently rolled upside
down.

Curious.... what's the procedure for recovering a 150 from an upside down
attitude? (FTM, what's the procedure for an Arrow?)


Would that be different from "unusual attitude recovery"?


--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane, USUA Ultralight Pilot
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

gatt schrieb:

Curious.... what's the procedure for recovering a 150 from an upside down
attitude? (FTM, what's the procedure for an Arrow?)

If you have to ask, then the only viable procedure in any aircraft is:
Stick and rudder fully against the side where the outside is blue.

There are other possibilities, but only advisable for those who don't
have to ask. All others would quickly find themselves wit the wings
ripped off or other inconveniences.

"Mark Hansen" wrote in message
...

Curious.... what's the procedure for recovering a 150 from an upside down
attitude? (FTM, what's the procedure for an Arrow?)


Would that be different from "unusual attitude recovery"?

Bit more unusual of an attitude than what's one the average checkride.

My theories a

1) Reboot the computer
2) 150s are pretty light, so just hop out and see if you can flip it over
3) Call technical support.
4) Stall to induce a spin and then recover from the spin normally.
5) Try to get hit by another bold of lightning to flip the plane over
6) Cut power, pull back to pitch the airplane nose down and then pull out
without stalling.

gatt wrote:
"Ol Shy & Bashful" wrote in message
ups.com...


I deviated south slightly to pass
around the heavy rain when I was surrounded by what I can only
describe as a "spider web" of lighting and was violently rolled upside
down.

Curious.... what's the procedure for recovering a 150 from an upside down
attitude? (FTM, what's the procedure for an Arrow?)


Continue the roll until it's a full 360 degrees. If you start downhill, pull
the throttle back to idle until things are sorted out again.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

On Jun 5, 10:45 am, "gatt" wrote:
"Ol Shy & Bashful" wrote in oglegroups.com...



I deviated south slightly to pass
around the heavy rain when I was surrounded by what I can only
describe as a "spider web" of lighting and was violently rolled upside
down.

Curious.... what's the procedure for recovering a 150 from an upside down
attitude? (FTM, what's the procedure for an Arrow?)

-c

Sounds like you need to go up and do some acro training... finishing
the roll is the best option, even if you wind up nose down. A split S
in a 150 is not a good idea, even if power is off.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Curious.... what's the procedure for recovering a 150 from an upside down
attitude? (FTM, what's the procedure for an Arrow?)

Sounds like you need to go up and do some acro training... finishing
the roll is the best option, even if you wind up nose down. A split S
in a 150 is not a good idea, even if power is off.

That's what I'd do...just try to ease it through the roll without breaking
it or losing too much altitude. Even if the result is a spin, there's a
documented and memorable procedure for spin recovery.

-c

"gatt" wrote in message
...

"Mark Hansen" wrote in message
...

Curious.... what's the procedure for recovering a 150 from an upside
down
attitude? (FTM, what's the procedure for an Arrow?)


Would that be different from "unusual attitude recovery"?

Bit more unusual of an attitude than what's one the average checkride.

My theories a

1) Reboot the computer
2) 150s are pretty light, so just hop out and see if you can flip it over
3) Call technical support.
4) Stall to induce a spin and then recover from the spin normally.
5) Try to get hit by another bold of lightning to flip the plane over
6) Cut power, pull back to pitch the airplane nose down and then pull out
without stalling.

All the above are wrong and #4 & #6 dangerously so.

The correct procedure is to PUSH and ROLL.

The push is to hold the nose up while you roll and should be released before
wings are level. It is actually pretty easy and will result in little loss
of altitude or speed buildup.

#6 is a 'split S' which is the back side of a loop except that at the top of
a loop your airspeed will be very low, if attempted from anywhere near slow
cruising speed it will almost surely result in exceeding Vne and you will be
pulling hard enough to seriously damage or remove the wings. You will also
loose lots more altitude than you would think.

I will not comment on #4 beyond suggesting that you consider what you would
need to do to stall inverted and also how you would determine if the spin
was inverted or not and how would you recover if it was.

I would also suggest that you find a Citabria and take some intro aerobatics
focusing on spins and unusual attitude recovery. If you can find a
Decathlon you can also try an inverted spin. Caution, there is no known
cure for aerobatics. The experience will improve your stick and rudder
skills more than anything I know and IMHO is great fun.