[NCLUG] lightning

[Steve Wolf]

>> We mentioned you the other night when some folks were talking about Buddy
>> Holly and The Big Bopper and their plane getting struck by lightning and
>> how likely that was, figured you'd know the stats off the top of your head.
>> :-)
>
> I have never been hit by lightning!  I try to stay away from
> thunderstorms.  They are bigger than I am.  But most reports about
> lightning strings in aluminum aircraft are that they are a non-event.
> Nothing significant happens.

In the empirical data column, my (aluminum) plane has been struck
once.  Brilliant flash coming from everywhere at once around the
plane, but no noise discernible over the usual cockpit noise.  It was
a non-event in my case.  All the metal did a great job of conducting
the energy.

I was tuned into an air traffic control frequency at the time.
Another pilot got on the radio and asked, "Did you just lose someone?
Because we just saw a bright flash!"

That said, I still do my best to steer clear of lightning.  One of my
plane's instruments maps lightning strikes out to as far as 200 miles
using two orthogonal antennae and measuring signal amplitude.  I hear
that our own Bill Hale helped design it!

Regards,
Steve