To those who have wondered what happens when a plastic plane meets lightning (or is it lightening(Arlen) I believe it to be a non issue.

We just finished an annual on a Columbia/ Cessna 400.

During perusal of the log books I noted it had an engine & prop teardown as well as an airframe inspection a few years ago following a lightning strike.

By all accounts other than the teardown inspections and overhauls the airframe was fine and did in fact not explode in midair.

I suppose that is a good thing.

I would NOT want to be in a plastic airplane in a lightning strike unless it has a conductive "cage" around the humans.

Carbon composites might work for that, but I haven't researched it so I don't know for sure. I'm guessing that IFR certified composite aircraft have taken care of this somehow.

Dan

Most (all certified) plastic clown planes have a wire mesh (Faraday cage) in the composite. This is needed for both HIRF / Lighting protection as well as ground planes for antennas and such.

Kevin

Why the engine teardown for a lightning strike? Is that specific to the 400?

Engine tear down concerns are related to magnetizing the steel parts. I believe both Lycoming and CMI require tear downs for lighting strikes (but I could be wrong).

Kevin

Why the engine teardown for a lightning strike? Is that specific to the 400?

Why the engine teardown for a lightning strike? Is that specific to the 400?

I handled a lightning strike claim on an SR22. It required a new prop (the blades looked like saw blades), an engine teardown, a substantial amount of composite work to repair small exit holes in the wings and fuselage, and a bunch of avionics repairs, followed by a test flight by a Cirrus factory pilot. It was an expensive job.

Incidentally, I asked the pilot why he didn't pull the handle. He said he had his hand on it when he suddenly flew out the other side of the cell he was in, and because the aircraft was still flying, he kept on going. When he landed and saw the damage, his knees got wobbly.

Heck, I would have worried about pulling the handle in that situation, dunno what the lightning might have done to the rocket or the shroud lines/canopy.

RAS

You guys are fast, I was going to reply but most of what I was going to write was covered. I asked Cirrus about this once, this is what they said:



So yeah, basically a Faraday cage. Take a look at the diagram, though, it's interesting.

I added the attachment they provided me for your convenience. Sorry it's a link to dropbox.. the file was too large to upload here.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iz7jg9alwfmyx0r/51-00.pdf

Back to work.

Edit:

Also check out CFR 23.867- Electrical bonding and protection against lightning and static electricity and CFR 23.954- Fuel System Lightning Protection and CFR 23.1306- Electrical and electronic system lightning protection

Heck, I would have worried about pulling the handle in that situation, dunno what the lightning might have done to the rocket or the shroud lines/canopy.

RAS

Had a friend have an unknown lightning strike in a Mooney Rocket. He ended up consistently losing oil pressure the week after dodging thunderstorms. Found a scalded bearing in the engine. Teardown revealed the problem. No other issues noted.

Proves that sometimes the engine builders do know what they're talking about.

Interesting, thanks.

Sounds like the faraday cage on the Cirus did not work to well if they had to replace a bunch of electronics