OFF RADAR. Struck by lightning! Don’t worry, your aircraft can take it

As a flier this will be something that you could do without. On July 22, a British Airways flight from London to Chennai was hit by a lightening. It resulted in, as Telegraph reported, more than 40 small holes in the aircraft. Though the airline was hit shortly after take-off, it continued on its 8,244-km journey over nine hours to Chennai.

It was only once the plane landed in the southern metro, that the holes were found upon inspection. The Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner couldn’t fly back to London the next day as per schedule, remained in Chennai till July 29 and returned to Heathrow without passengers.

If the thought of travelling nine hours in a plane with more than 40 holes sounds frightening, here is something that will bring some cheer. Modern aircraft are strong enough to withstand a lightening. On August 5, a flight from Luton in England (no, this is just a coincidence, nothing wrong with the clouds in the country) to Dublin was hit by a lightning. Passengers, in interviews later, said that they heard a large bang and flash outside at the engine. But guess what, the flight landed safely in Dublin.

Lightning hits are rare occurrences. “I started flying in 1987. Only on two occasions have lightning struck the aircraft I was piloting,” says a senior pilot from a full-service Indian airline. He requested for anonymity as he was not authorised to talk. “You hear a thud when a lightning strikes. We check the parameters and if everything is fine, proceed with the journey,” he adds.

Estimates say that an aircraft is hit by lightning once, or twice a year. And it is not that the industry has always been dismissive about lightning. In fact, the industry takes a lot of care to ensure that an aircraft can handle a lightning strike.

A few tragedies brought more attention to the problem. In 1963, a Pan American flight from Baltimore to Philadelphia crashed after hit by a lightning, killing 81 people on board. Later, in 1971 and 1988, crashes due to lightning led to more deaths in Peru and Germany, respectively.

Since then though, aircraft manufacturers have taken care that the body of the aircraft, including its wings as these contain the fuel tank, can handle a bolt or two. A lightning usually strikes a plane on its nose or wing tip and then travels through its body.

The modern aircraft are covered with a protective coating made of copper.

The wings are given more care, so that the surrounding metal and vents can withstand a bolt. The ‘skin’ of the wings is given extra protection. Modern aircraft also contain a sophisticated system, including computers and metres of cables. Each of these are certified for their capability to withstand a lightning.

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