Has anyone been struck by lightning in a GA plane?
Posted by bradmalt@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 117 comments
Took this off of our wing as we got routed through storms between Dallas and Austin, and it made me wonder what if anyone here has ever been hit?
cmnt777@reddit
Now that we are on the topic of, more or less, indirect questions on the concept of it all. Here's another one: in the near future, I will begin my journey into the certifications... i like to, out of habit, drink alot of fluids ( the non- alcoholic) kind. So therefore, I am constantly urinating.... on an extended flight.... how does one relieve themselves? Do I just go thirsty?
No_Armadillo_1118@reddit
Cirrus wing
pilotallen@reddit
I’ve taken multiple hits in larger jets — it tends to occur near the freezing level in bad weather. I know a couple of people who have taken strikes in smaller GA planes which ended up requiring a complete engine tear down and rebuild on the last one, so think about that when you avoid weather. When I was in UPT, there was a NASA T38 that took a strike — the damage was impressive. The plane caught on fire and looked like someone had gone around with a blow torch and burned holes throughout the fuselage. The crew landed safely and made an emergency evacuation on the runway. My one significant strike blew the landing gear door off the aircraft, so caution is advised. No one wants to go through the nightmare of significant damage to your own personal aircraft due to this.
durrow@reddit
Cirrus SR22 struck in flight
SpartanDoubleZero@reddit
You know, I’m really not surprised it was a Cirrus.
earthgreen10@reddit
why?
Alterscape@reddit
The stereotype of your average Cirrus enjoyer is that they take more risks because of the parachute. I'm not sure if that's objectively true or not, but that's the stereotype.
earthgreen10@reddit
Oh damn, that’s a good point. Next I fly a citrus, I will take more risks
tms2x2@reddit
I work as a mechanic on these type of aircraft. I think the person your responding to is thinking of examples of previous incidents. The early Bonanzas were called forked tail doctor killers. When the CEO of Cessna was asked when they would start production of the Pressurized 210, he responded: NO, we had more litigation on that plane than all the other planes put together. I think it comes down to having planes that are thought of as all weather capable IFR platforms and the pilots are not really trained for the situations they can encounter. We had one pilot say he flew his Mooney at 35K feet direct Long Island to Florida. The grizzled airline captain that was there said it was a ridiculous risk, if he had oxygen problems he would be unconscious in 10 seconds.
cbph@reddit
What model? I'm a Mooney owner, thought the Ovation (or maybe the Acclaim) had the highest ceiling at 28k.
That airline pilot was right, though.
tms2x2@reddit
M20M had TSIO360 Continental. Service ceiling 28k.
cbph@reddit
Right. So not the 35k that guy mentioned.
tms2x2@reddit
Service ceiling is a number that can be exceeded. I knew him a little bit, not surprising. The 28 k limit could be a certification limit since it's not pressurized. I think 28k on oxygen is nuts now. I went up in a Mooney to 28k, surprising how far above the clouds we were 😲
Alterscape@reddit
Yeah, exactly. And to be clear: I know it's a stereotype and not reality!
Creative-Dust5701@reddit
I get this image of a flying orange…
experimental1212@reddit
Careful, you'll be juiced.
earthgreen10@reddit
I meant cirrus lol
The0nlyGamer@reddit
🤡
The0nlyGamer@reddit
🤡
IvanYakinovski@reddit
Twenty mile final calls into a non towered airport then complete radio silence until final approach fix on the rnav. 😭
JimTheJerseyGuy@reddit
Why would you require an engine tear down? Worry about something fusing inside the engine block?
FJ60GatewayDrug@reddit
It’s enough electricity to weld your asshole shut, and you don’t want to re-open it by having an engine failure on a future flight.
Tolerances in engines are tiny, and a bolt from the blue can easily jump the gap, damaging any number of important greasy bits such that they are maybe not outright broken but instead no longer able to last their typical lifetime or display expected failure modes (eg catastrophic vs slow decline)
tms2x2@reddit
You don't know what could have happened inside the engine when the lightning bolt current passed through it. Metal parts can lose their heat treat. If you look at the link to the Cirrus that had the lightning strike. The prop was hit and their is a discharge mark on the step. The current probably went through the prop, crankshaft, accessory case to engine ground strap then through the fuselage to the step. All those components will need inspection and engineering support for return to service.
Tennessean@reddit
I’m not sure about aviation specifics, but in the heavy equipment world, we’re always very careful when welding anywhere near any kind of bearing. The tiny gap can cause arcing and damage.
Karl24374@reddit
Holy shit a Williams guy! Rare as hens teeth anymore
Overstim9000@reddit
What does that mean?
pilotallen@reddit
Yep
Worldly-Hyena-3721@reddit
What’s UPT?
pilotallen@reddit
Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training — it’s how you earn your wings in the AF.
Sweet_Deer3514@reddit
I would be making a different kind of emergency evacuation…if you know what I mean
greenbluelc@reddit
High electrical loads and temperature will damage engine internal components, and sometimes even magnetizes it.
mrvarmint@reddit
How is anyone going to top this comment
TheMilkmanGames@reddit
My dad is a pilot and I asked him about this just yesterday.
He says he's been struck dozens of times in commercial aircraft. He even had a story of a strike on a fully loaded wide body where the passengers and crew reported a softball sized ball of electricity going down the aisle of the aircraft.
CCLF@reddit
Damn, a ball of electricity traveling down the aisle must have been one hell of a headfuck. When people are driven to tears by moderate turbulence, I can only imagine the fear and screaming on that flight.
TheMilkmanGames@reddit
He says it was dead silent for the remainder of the flight after the event. People couldn't parse what they had witnessed
hogtiedcantalope@reddit
Ive not heard this story
Ball lightening is something I have red a lot about, I'm a physicist and pilot
There's like a dozen scientifically plausible explanations for ball lightening
I feel like this scenario really could lead to some theories
Can we zap some metal fuselages in experiments and try to recreate ?
Plus lots of witnesses to the same event? This should be better known I'd love a source on the event
rango_87@reddit
Design an experiment, attach a puppy shredder, then go to the mad scientist unethical funding board for money
Creative-Dust5701@reddit
There is a lab which creates ball lighting it uses submarine batteries to create the enormous currents required
SirEDCaLot@reddit
Scientist: Okay so this machine produces 250,000 volts, then encapsulates that energy with a magnetic field to create a plasma, It then shreds a puppy and fires the encapsulated plasma into an occupied passenger aircraft.
Funding Board: Why do you need the puppy shredder? Would the experiment still work if you remove the puppy shredder?
Scientist: I mean I suppose it's possible, but why would I do that?
Funding Board: I like the way you think! Approved!
TheMilkmanGames@reddit
I can ask him more about it later, but I don't think it was ever reported and possibly happened before the Internet became an every day too for sharing stories for the public
thiskillstheredditor@reddit
Please do! This is fascinating.
LateralThinkerer@reddit
Relevant XKCD
Searching4Health@reddit
Fucking aye for dozens of strikes. I’ve had 3 and I feel well above average in my cohorts and never want one again. (9 years flying)
TheMilkmanGames@reddit
Compared to over 30 years of flying
TheMilkmanGames@reddit
He says it left a lot of the passengers and crew in a state of shock for the rest of the flight.
I did a little bit of digging and it's been reported for quite some time but always considered folklore in the industry. Not a single case of it being documented or understanding of how or why it happens.
If I had to guess it's some kind of electric field generated by the tube shaped faraday cage of the fuselage that is exciting gases in the air creating some kind of plasma.
Nousername58@reddit
AMT here. We had a Dornier 328 struck once. The crew reported a halo of electricity went down the cabin/fuselage. It blew the top of the rudder off and smoked the tips of one of the propellers.
bdubwilliams22@reddit
That’s a solid guess.
TheEschatonSucks@reddit
A solid gauss?
Av8tr1@reddit
I just posted about this in another thread recently.
I had this happen once in a PC-12. Got hit by lightning. Took out the entire panel. Thankfully, I had a handheld I always carried in my flight kit that everyone made fun of me for. People will tell you once you make the flight levels and are flying a big jet, you will never need it. I will beg to differ, and it probably saved my life that day.
I was flying between cells in to KCHS. Both cells were a good 20 miles on either side. But big storms. I was coming down from the north and center was helping me pick my way through. Sun had gone down about an hour prior and it was full dark at this point, well other than the occasional flash of lightning.
I was coming out of FL200. Think I came down around FL240. Got cleared down to 11k when it hit. Was solid IFR around 17K but I had my radar and NEXRAD and I could see I was clear of the cells by a good margin easily 20 miles. But there was a lot of activity.
It happened so quickly, I literally didn’t know that I’d been hit by lightning until after I landed
I never heard the impact. Just had the entire panel go completely dark. This was an upgrade to the Garmin 650 system. So an all-in-one display. All went blank. Like I had turned them off. I went to the backup steam gauge (one single fucking small round gauge) I checked the circuit breakers, none popped. Tried to recycle the power, nada.
I put 7600 on the sqwak. Kept on the same heading and alt. Fished around for my handheld in my bag. Prayed there was life in the battery. Pulled it up and tuned the freq and heard him acknowledging my transponder code. Asked if I could hear him to ident. I did so, and he gave me vectors, and I was able to get down to where I could reach the tower. I was cleared for the approach before I had 2-way with the tower, but I could hear them the entire time, thankfully. They just moved everyone out of my way. No holds all vectors to final. And they were stacked ahead of me.
At first I didn’t know that I had been hit by lightning. I just thought it was the typical mechanical bullshit that I was dealing with at that 91 operator. Hell they argued for three months over if I’ve been hit by lightning or not three months into it, when we still could not get the plane back into the air and they finally looked at the top and found the entry point on the top antenna. They finally agreed that I’ve been hit by lightning. We had to completely rewire the airplane. Had Pilatus engineers come down and take a look. We were plagued with electrical issues for months. Flaps wouldn't go up after take off. Autopilot would randomly kick off or just miss a turn all together. Flying out of CLT one day radio just up and quit in the middle of the departure. Then came back like nothing was wrong.
I have pictures somewhere. The next day after I landed I went to look at the plane. One of the static wicks looked like an old time cigar from a cartoon that blew up. That was the exit point.
3 months later they finally went on top of the airplane and found the entry point on one of the antannas. Clear as day.
Particular_Week2898@reddit
Insane, great flying man!
SimonBumblefuck@reddit
No one has mentioned what it looks like when you take an in-flight lightening strike. Every time we took a hit, we never saw the bolt. It's usually in weather, and with the strobes on, it is hard to tell that anything happened. When cloud to cloud activity is close, you typically don't see it. There's just a weak flash somewhere behind the wing. Nothing blinding. Nothing spectacular. Sometimes, you'll hear a static pop over the headphones.
The one I remember best is when we were in clear air flying the EMB-120. For some reason, a lady in the back had her husband flying the same route in their family plane. He left before we did, and as we passed him during the descent, he saw us take a lightening strike. It freaked him out so much that he had ATC warn us, and then called his wife on the phone. That conversation was odd and confusing: "Hey SkyWest, some guy in a Bonanza claims that he saw you take a lightening strike." He was something like 50 miles behind us and we beat him to the airport by a solid hour.
Anyway, the wife caught up to me in the terminal. We did see the flash but she did not. It was nothing spectacular. Just a generalized static discharge, and there was no damage to the plane. She made a joke about that night being the one time she'd of been safer in her husband's Bonanza vs. flying with the pros.
P.S. Birds always did way more damage than lightening.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Took this off of our wing as we got routed through storms between Dallas and Austin, and it made me wonder what if anyone here has ever been hit?
Please downvote this comment until it collapses.
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helno@reddit
Been a few gliders that have been hit.
The carbon fibre spars tend to explode.
Hemmschwelle@reddit
I don't doubt that that could happen, but are there any accident reports for these anecdotes?
My glider has some carbon fiber in the wings and the POH specifically calls out the lightning risk.
The famous ASK-21 midair disintegration did not involve carbon fibers. The metal control rods were melted.
tms2x2@reddit
The composite components of the planes i work on have a copper mesh under the paint. They have bond braids all over the place between components. Example would be a bond braid at each aileron hinge point.
Hemmschwelle@reddit
Composite gliders don't have this feature in the fuselage/wings. The only bond braid in my glider is on the control stick.
helno@reddit
Of course now that I'm looking for a source all I can find is the K21 incident. I'm probably just misremembering the details of that.
fisherman363@reddit
Does that mean the wings come off? Or just damaged -> emergency landing?
Hemmschwelle@reddit
https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/146762
rcbif@reddit
Any sources? I only know of 1 glider strike, and it was flight controls that were disintegrated that lead to the bailout.
-burnr-@reddit
Yes.
navyaircrewman@reddit
GA to me means VFR flying especially as a single pilot in a single engine piston plane. Flying in hard IFR conditions or around weather isn’t my idea of recreation. As the saying goes I’d rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air instead of in the air wishing I was on the ground.
Swimming_Way_7372@reddit
The thing about GA is it's not only recreation. Recreational aviation is a better descriptor of what you're talking about. GA is biz jets and a lot more.
BluProfessor@reddit
I fly GA but it isn't always recreational. I'm usually flying to get somewhere, move people, or move something, and that often involves flying in IMC. Honestly, I prefer flying IFR than VFR.
navyaircrewman@reddit
Makes sense especially if you’re instructing. I was just speaking from my own experience as this kind of flying for me is purely recreational. Single engine piston doesn’t give you a lot of options when things start going sideways as opposed to transport category jets. I’ve been hit by lightning a couple times in those (trying to avoid weather) and it’s kinda varsity.
Ok-Selection4206@reddit
You are wishing you were on the ground for the whole thunderstorm/hurricane season flying from Florida to SA over the Caribbean, which I have been doing for the last 15 yrs. I pucker up quicker now.
Small-Letterhead2046@reddit
Yes. A few times. Non event in the C340II.
Kinda scary though.
Danejasper@reddit
I was struck when flying a Cirrus SF50 VisionJet. Was in and out of IMC in some build-ups, and while there was clear thunderstorm activity about 20 miles to the North of me, as shown on the radar and the XM, with lots of strike indications, but nothing was depicted in my area. Was in a cloud and saw a flash, it looked like it was 30 feet in front of the cockpit, and felt a "thump" through the rudder pedals. Zero other indications. Then about ten minutes later, after another XM update, there was a little lone plus sign indicating a strike behind us.
Physical inspection of the plane initially indicated nothing, and there were no operational issues. Later a tiny scorch mark was found on the nosewheel gear door, an exit point, and that led to the discovery of a slight brown tint char mark on the nose above. Both marks were light enough to be wiped away.
The avionics and aircraft received an operational check and all was well. Oil was drained from the engine and replaced, and then again after 25 hours of operation to assure that the bearings were not affected.
So, the lightning protection on the SF50 worked as designed, which was great to see.
mig82au@reddit
Do consider that there's a wide range of lightning intensities. Just because the plane handled that strike well doesn't mean that a positive strike won't KO the avionics and blast a hole.
Visionjcv@reddit
This happened to me departing Gatwick heading for Jersey in the UK. We were in the initial climb and were struck once. It sounded like a shotgun had gone off in the cabin. The captain made an announcement shortly after saying it was perfectly safe but still relatively uncommon to happen.
Fairly dramatic when combined with the slight turbulence we were having!
testfire10@reddit
I was in some small Embraer flying from LA to SF a couple years ago and we had a lightning hit. It was fucking LOUD, a huge bang. The lights briefly flickered off and back on again.
JekobuR@reddit
Know someone who took a hit in a King Air. It put a hole in the horizontal stabilizer, but other than that it was pretty fine.
BER001@reddit
They say it happens in +5 -5 degrees is most likely to be struck
MoreSpoiler@reddit
No, but I have been thunder struck
Field_Sweeper@reddit
HAHA< i did smooth criminal, but good one too haha.
Field_Sweeper@reddit
No but I have been struck by a smooth criminal.
low hanging fruit lol.
Malcolm2theRescue@reddit
Never in GA. Six times in airliners
coolkerbal@reddit
Got hit in the Phenom, briefly took out all three displays, GIA 1-2 failure, AHRS 1-2 failure, which when your in mod turbulence and IMC is quite uncomfortable to see. Everything came back in about a minute but the aircraft was down for months due to damage to the fuselage and missing chunks in the elevator requiring a new one.
Hour_Tour@reddit
This one comes to mind, a wild experience I'm sure: https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/146762
coolkerbal@reddit
“A real emergency requiring unpleasant and decisive action”
saml01@reddit
No. But i have been struck by thunder.
khurley424@reddit
You've been........ Thunder Struck?!?
saml01@reddit
Tore me apart!
Less_Half8650@reddit
Nope, only a straight plane.
Euryheli@reddit
Was on final during my commercial multi engine check ride into Vero Beach when we took a strike on the right wing tip at probably 1000ft. Luckily it was the last event because I said “we are landing”, and did uneventfully. Other than the bright flash and sound nothing in the airplane indicated it happened. Got down and there was a mark on the wing too similar to a burn, but nothing dramatic.
PhiladelphiaFlyr@reddit
have been struck but not quite in this pic
Chemtrailcreator@reddit
Not in a GA but I used to fly the CRJ7, that thing was a fkn magnet for lightning.
4 hits I think during my time on it, one went through the radome, left a hole the size of a silver dollar, and hit the dish shorting out the radar.
mkosmo@reddit
How was your eyesight after the radome strike?
Chemtrailcreator@reddit
I happened to have my eyes under the glare shield looking at the radar because we were surrounded by storms but it looked like 20 cameras flashed in the cockpit at the same time and sounded like shotgun.
We were essentially blind to the weather so we asked if we could follow our company ahead using the TCAS and ATC to give us vectors because we had no other way, this was wayyyy before WiFi and ForeFlight weather onboard. Was still using Jepp paper.
frank_stills@reddit
Second the lightning magnet. I was on the ground in Philly behind a CRJ in a Dash8. Cell hit the field before we could take off, the CRJ got hit. It branched out, hit us and the 757 in front of them. Both the 757 and us returned to the gate. The CRJ had to get towed in. There was a massive pile of debris under the plane.
Whirlwind_AK@reddit
Wow!!
No thanks……
Cdraw51@reddit
I try my best to avoid those situations
Prefect_99@reddit
There was a glider that got struck many years back and exploded.
Hemmschwelle@reddit
This is what happens when lightning strikes an aircraft that does not have a Faraday Cage. https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/146762
pilotshashi@reddit
Diverted to KIMM airport once, what the hell that place was living death.
UNDR08@reddit
Does a Caravan count as GA?
Lost the radios for a few seconds, and they came back. Right elevator had to be replaced.
Swimming_Way_7372@reddit
Yes it does. As long as it wasnt 121 or a military caravan then its GA.
Monksdrunk@reddit
If it goes into a GA bar, then you know it's GA
Ok-Selection4206@reddit
I had a nose gear door blow up on a 767 and lost all flight instruments on an E120 for a couple of minutes except for the 2 5 in standby adi. That was a pain in imc.
AlternativeBeat3589@reddit
If you've got the scratch, an A380 can be GA. :D
Designer_Buy_1650@reddit
Hit 5 times in large jet aircraft. Once as a passenger, twice as a captain, once as an FO, and once as an flight engineer. With the exception of the strike as an FO (our radar went out), every other hit was totally unexpected in conditions you wouldn’t expect a strike.
Only one aircraft had damage which was a small hole in the fuselage near the nose. Each strike scares the crap out of you.
mynameiskeven@reddit
I did! Small jet (maybe turbo prop?) and it put a half dollar sized hole in the wing tip. I saw it happen and said man that was close but didn’t realize it actually struck us until after we landed
Background-House9795@reddit
A friend of mine was flying his Mooney when the antenna mounted on the nose in front of the windshield got hit. Took out all the avionics. And he couldn’t see for about five minutes. He showed me what was left of the antenna the next time he brought the plane to me for an annual.
rcbif@reddit
Glider struck by lighting.
Did not well go for the glider, but thankfully occupants survive
My Gliding accident. Glider destroyed by lightning, BBC 999 program of the reconstruction - YouTube
OsmoOsmo@reddit
Getting struck in commercial planes is fairly common. I’ve had to do plenty lightning strike inspections
antiskid_inop@reddit
Had a lightning strike on a King Air. Left a ball-point pen tip sized crater on one prop blade, and then a huge scorch mark on the same side flap fairing. Avionics unaffected.
elad34@reddit
Back in 2009 the Golden Eagle we flew was completely overhauled, stripped all the old paint off and found evidence of lightning strikes but if it happened while we were flying we never felt it.
FredSchwartz@reddit
My plane was hit while parked. Among other things, i needed to be degaussed.
Rumples4Skin@reddit
I'm probably going to sound like such an idiot for asking, but how do you degauss a human? Do you just smoke a nervous cigarette like Matthew McConaughey in that one movie?
FredSchwartz@reddit
Hahaha I like you.
s/ i / it /
randytc18@reddit
Just push a button like a old crt?
brongchong@reddit
Yes. Twice.
Not due to terribly bad decisions…I avoid thunderstorms as best I can, but if you fly thousands of hours, it can happen.
Last time I hopped I was in the clear below a cloud deck, light rain, and BAM!
Avoidance is a bit easier these days with Sirius XM WEATHER. Airborne weather RADAR is super nice but rare in the GA world.
Damage was minimal. Strobe light R wing toasted in one encounter. Flap outboard trailing edge in another.
OsmoOsmo@reddit
Yes I just worked on a GA plane that had lightening strike on its tail. Tore the tail up
capt_jack994@reddit
Came close in a Piper Arrow flying through imc a bit too close to an embedded thunderstorm. Lightning strikes within a couple miles of the plane wreaked havoc with the radios but luckily I didn’t get a direct hit.
Took a strike on the top of the fuselage in a brand new A321NEO going into Punta Cana last summer. Plane took it like a champ and the only damage were half a dozen melted rivets on the bottom of the fuselage.
skyrider8328@reddit
Army King Air; it hit the right prop. It exited the right side of elevator blowing the trailing edge apart and melting any static wicks on aileron and elevator that remained. The right side engine bearings were all scored as we're most control surface bearings. The entry spot on the prop was fairly small. The aircraft flew fine and no engine parameters changed. The sound was crazy...thankful for noise cancelling headsets...all the pax were wearing ear plugs so no hearing damage, but they said it was very loud.
FriendFun5522@reddit
Crickets. Survivorship bias. They are all dead.
(Kidding)
bradmalt@reddit (OP)
lol