You're a natural teacher and I love how you always credit any other channels, if you've borrowed their material. Extremely detailed, honest, and all around solid channel!
I was on a Korean Air flight from Seoul to Atlanta that was struck by lightning while climbing in altitude during takeoff. It was a loud bang and bright flash of light. But otherwise nothing else happened. Still gave everyone a quick panic though!
Thank you for this explanation. Lightening strike is one of those things I've been afraid of when flying. Turns out it's far more dangerous to get hit on the ground.
Few years ago I was driving my Ford E-350 work van on top of an interstate overpass when Lightning struck the radio antenna just forward of the passenger side window, other than scarring the crap out of me I personally had no effects (had my window down a few inches), the antenna however was melted off with an approx. 3" round black spot in it's place. The radio was damaged and the fuel gauge no longer worked correctly, no other damage was recorded. First thing I did when off the highway was buy a lottery ticket, it is easier to get struck by lightning than win the lottery.
I experienced a wing lighting strike in a 787 on final into Tel Aviv. We immediately diverted to Cyprus. There was very little experience with strikes to the 787 at that time. Air Canada flew in an empty 787 the next day with a bunch of engineers on board. Flew us back to Tel Aviv but the hit 787 stayed on Cyprus several days to check it out.
Bristow Helicopters Flight 56C was a nasty example of lightning damage, it blew the tail off the composite-material built helicopter. Thankfully the pilot landed on the sea and everyone survived
7:06 while "skin effect" describes a similar phenomenon it is something completely different. Skin effect describes the fact that in high frequency applications current only (owerwhelmingly) flows in the outer most past of a conductor. Even if the conductor is solid. Effectively increasing current density in those areas while decreasing in the core. Very interesting video!
I just came across your channel today. You're easy to understand, very informative, and one of the best RUclips channels I've seen. You don't rely on fancy graphics or try to fill up space, and everything is relevant and interesting. 👍
I remember being at Hamilton airport (Canada), it took over 2 hours to board the aircraft because of local storm systems, they were not taking any chances. I missed my connecting flight as a result but to be honest, I would rather need to buy an extra bus ticket than the possible alternative.
love your videos, filled with great content and very interesting. I’m an engineer by trade so when you go in depth it’s extremely interesting to me as I like to know the tech works not just that it exists! Keep up the good work and thank you.
Great video and very informative like always! I'm probably your biggest fan in Arizona, United States. We get huge monsoon storms that include huge dust storms and heavy rain dumps in the summer time and it can heavily affect PHX (Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport).
Bumped into you again my friend 👍🏽👍🏽 I have almost no interest in planes in my day to day life then every once every once and a while you pop up in my suggested videos and I spend hours listening (and learning ) from you The perfect explanations that give enough information while still making perfect sense! I'm onto different RUclips topics again now but I sure il be back soon 😊😊
Excellent vid as always. The footage of the "active cumulonimbus cloud" is much more than a mere cumulonimbus cloud... that thing has rotation in it, it's a supercell storm, and it's likely to be filled with hail, humongous quantities of rain and destructive winds. Lightning is the least of your worries when dealing with a beast like this. Don't even THINK about flying near this thing.
Don't know if it helps, but I always watch the hole advertisement till the end. Hope you continue making awesome content, and keep inspiring everyone! :)
Extremely informative content --- you've gained my subscription! (I'm an aerospace engineering student, so it's interesting to hear your perspective of the aerospace industry as a pilot.)
I remember climbing out of Santo Dominigo airport a few years back. It was very obvious and everyone that didn’t know about the planes regulations for this lost their shit. The pilots and crew handled it very well saying the plane is made to resist stuff like this. It was during a small typical Caribbean storm, and was a weird experience to say the least.
I am always impressed with the way you explain things Petter! I always worry that the pilots might get blinded by the light because it is so bright and your windows are so much bigger than ours. I experienced a lightning strike when flying to Bratislava from Sofia on July 3rd 2020. it was early morning and the plane had just taken off from Sofia Airport. It was raining outside, it was pretty dark and I was dozing off. Maybe 3-4 minutes into the ascend there was a loud bang and a super bright light that I saw even through my closed eyes. But it was gone before I even opened my eyes to see what happened. Nobody in the cabin seemed worried when I looked around and then I shrugged and tried to doze off again. Then one of the flight attendants made a PA that we had been struck by lightning, and there was nothing to worry about because the planes were built to endure those, and we'd continue to our final destination. Immediately everyone in the plane started to shift in their seat because till that moment we didn't know that the bang and the light was a lightning strike. However, another 2 minutes later the pilot made an announcement that we are being diverted to Budapest because our plane had to be checked, and we'd continue to Bratislava with a different plane. You can imagine absolutely nobody was calm anymore and I couldn't close my eyes till we landed in Budapest. Realistically, The flight felt absolutely normal, there was food service, the landing was great, the plane looked normal on the outside. I don't know what I could expect to see when I got out but I thought there'd be some sort of visible damage on the paint, at least. At the time I didn't know that the lightning could affect only a tiny part of the plane (like in your case), so I expected something dramatic and visible, haha. It was a day to remember :D I am very thankful to the amazing pilots and crew from WizzAir who took care of our safety.
The 787 does not have a metal skin. However between the joins we use Tie Foil and the CFRP skin has what is called a CRN system built in. CRN is short term for current return network which is run throughout the entire Aircraft and let’s the lightning flow out through a static discharge and protects the aircraft!
I was on a plane that was struck once. I was sitting in the back of the plane I think 4th to last row. This happened maybe 10 minutes before landing around 9 at night descending through light rain with lightning visible and presumably heavier weather in the distance. It was extremely loud, it startled me for sure but I didn't see any effects in the cabin. When I got back into the gate I looked out the big picture windows at the plane and there was a dark spot on the forward tip of the tail.
I was in an automobile that was struck and it was wild, extremely loud and the bright light was one of the brightest I’ve even encountered in my life, the car sustained alot of damage to different modules and tires but all In all was repairable
Love your videos. I’m not a pilot but these provide education to expand my mind. This reminds me in Nov 1969 with launch of Apollo 12 (from the book “Apollo: The Race to the Moon”) then Saturn V left the pad but had a 1500 ft flame (that is conductive) so entire rocket and flame was a very tall lightning rod that attracted and struck by lightning. Entire instrument panel in Command Module lit up like a christmas tree, attitude indicator ball went spinning wildly. However it did not effect launch flight because Saturn V rocket was controlled by the Instrument Ring, not Command Module systems. Reaching orbit, and extensive systems check revealed no faults though they had to realign the platform. There was one system in doubts and that was parachute ejection systems. But then it is only used once so either use it returning from orbit or returning from the Moon (may as well put in lunar voyage). Fast forward to Shuttle era, separation from bad weather became much larger. Talking with a Navy pilot who flew in the late 1940s said on one flight his aircraft was struck by lightning multiple times, I asked what was that like. He said he was more focused flying the plane in extremely rough weather.
I’d like to add that, the electricity always follows the path with the least resistance (the most conductive). The plane itself is a pressurized can of metal, so it passes thriugh the metal and around the inside, because obviously, metal is much more conductive than air or plastic.
I was a passenger on a flight from Baltimore to Chicago that was struck by lightning. There was a big weather front in the area. It was quite 'shocking'. The pilot's PA afterwards was to say it happened, they were a bit busy at first, now everything is under control. We will be landing normally but you will see rescue vehicles on the runway which is standard and not to be concerned. We were on national news that night.
Lightning stikes are scary.. I hope that pushback guy didnt suffer much damages to his body... Wow that was horrific lightining hit.. From the tail fin to the headset of the pushback guy and then to the ground..
@@MentourPilot this is not the full story. there HAVE been fuel tanks that exploded due to arcing inside fuel tanks as a side effect of lightning strikes... but that is why fuel tanks are now lined to prevent arcing, wiring has changed, and even nitrogen rich air is pumped into tanks to prevent combustion. conduction of electrical charge through the skin can cause sympathetic conduction in electrical lines nearby as well, which again is why wiring in planes is done differently now than it used to be.
Petter, about the increase in lightning ground strikes, that is actually very easy to explain and it is not due to climate. Firstly, the pollutants in the emissions from engines (cars, jets, or prop) is conductive because it and the heated air from the exhaust is ionized. This means when the stepped leader from the cloud starts downward it will be drawn to the area with high concentration of charged ionized air at ground level. This was discovered during a study done in Houston, Texas about 15 or 20 year ago to track lightning strike within major cities and it was noted that the area with high frequency of strikes occurred on or near freeways especially during times of high traffic congestion such as during rush hours and around gas and oil refineries and chemical plants in the area. Air travel has grown tremendously and the number of aircrafts in airports is higher than ever. I am old enough to remember (hint: I rode on the 707 when they were first introduced) airports were not crowded and passengers use to embark and de-plane by walking to and from the aircraft. Given the high volume of aircraft in airports these days, it is not surprising that there would be a corresponding increase in lightning ground strikes. Thanks for your videos and have a fantastic day.
He probably can't, because it is really not possible to discuss that topic without giving away some pretty big secrets that help keep people safe. AND PLEASE DO NOT PUBLICLY SPECULATE ON SUCH THINGS.
Mentour Pilot, first of all thank you for your interesting videos! Could it be, that you meant a "plasma ball" at 6:06? This kind of device was invented by Nicolas Tesla in 1892 and it uses a Tesla coil to generate the needed high voltage for the ionisation of the gases in the sphere.
Why is your company not wanting to be associated with the videos? Your approach is professional, friendly, and very safety conscious. Actually knowing which company you fly for makes me much more willing to use them, but they do not come here.
Thank you Petter, another great video with some fascinating information. A question for future consideration if I may. As technology increases, so does the requirement of the radio system for Nav and communication. There seem to be many instances of different squawk codes for differing scenarios and multiple channels etc. It seems like a complex system.Has this been explained in a previous video, as I haven't come across it yet? ( I've only been subscribed for a short time - great content, thank you)
That ASA crj200 wasnt a lightning strike. It was a shorted contactor in JB1 and improper routing of the observers oxygen mask supply lines. Happened on the ground.
Lightning strikes shouldn't be a big issue for the structure since they're very high frequency and will stay on the skin of the aircraft and cloud discharges are much less potent than ground discharges. I guess the electromagnetic interference would be a bigger issue but sitting inside a huge Faraday cage helps.
My dad was once in a passenger plane when lightning hit it with a loud crack that scared the hell out of everyone on board. Other than a burnt nose, the aircraft was fine.
My cousin & her husband were flying to Florida from Maine. His first flight. They were struck by lightening. They had their vacation but rented a car & drove back to Maine. He didn't fy again for 20 years
Amazing , and the latest lightning research implies some lightning is pre indicated by a cosmic ray path that ionises a pathway to make it a likely route also enabling some pre lighting prediction by a few minutes but I didn't understand how.
Regarding composite structures, DO-328s, with mostly composite aft fuselage & empennage, seemed to draw more than their fair share of lightning strikes compared to BAe 146s, CRJ-200s, et al. Didn't generally seem to do any worse damage, though. NTSB report DCA09FA033 details the fire on that CRJ-200.
On a DC9 climbing out of Fargo ND, we were struck by lightning. There was a loud bang and the plane started to go silent. The flaps were extended and I thought we were going to go back and land. They lost engine power and it seemed like we were just floating down. After what seemed like forever, we heard the engines relit and we thrusted out under the clouds and on to Minneapolis. We were quite alarmed and the pilots telling the crew to sit and passengers to hold their children. It was definitely scary.
@Mentour Pilot A few years ago I was on a Ryanair flight from Berlin to Shannon ? (not Dublin, but could have been other City...). On approach, late evening, we had a lightning strike. I 100% believe so, big bang a flash. My recommendation for any pilot would be to acknowledge that over the intercom to the passengers!! It was just silence and dark in the cabin. I wasn't sure there are still pilots in control or just the autopilot. The plane was just flying straight ahead.... just like that Helios flight, which happened around that time earlier.
I always thought, there was NEVER damage to aircraft because they are not GROUNDED. After seeing this video, a HOLE near a cockpit and the other images, changed my mind. Like he said, most of the time, don't worry :-) Excellent Videos as usual :-)
I was 14 years old,, looking out a window an home, and lightning struck the power pole ground not 40 feet from me. It was so bright and loud, I fell to the floor. No injury or damage to anything, but it frightened me badly. I would guess if my bladder or bowels had been full, they'd have been empty after the strike. I can only imagine what it would be like in an aircraft.
you should have mentioned the development of internal systems to reduce the chances of sparks happening within the air frame and structures. things like nitrogen being pumped into fuel tanks, spark dampeners, changes in how wiring is done, etc. because there have been documented fuel tank explosions from lightning strikes in the past.
I watched your video on fueltanks in the wings and therefore I am thinking about lightning strikes creating holes on the wing surface. Has lightning ever ruptured fuel tanks? That should be really dangrous, especially with the other electric phenomenons you described.
Yes, there have been incidents of fuel tanks exploding due to sparks arcing inside the fuel tank from a lightning strike. this is why they created different wiring systems, lined tanks to prevent arcing, and even filled tanks with nitrogen rich air to prevent combustion inside the tanks.
Been on 2 flights where the aircraft was struck. First time was known. There was a bright flash, and a loud 'knock'. not a crack or thunder sound, more like using your knuckle to knock on a door. Nothing happened inside the cabin. no flicker of lights, no pressure change, nor did the aircraft have a sudden drop or anything. One of the pilots (not sure if it was C or FO) came on and stated, yup, that was lightning. All is good up here. Flight continued as normal. The second flight, there was no indication to the passengers. Only reason I knew, was because we were waiting on the jet-bridge for the gate checked bags (was and EMB145) And a pilot was all upset about having to do the lighting check procedure, and delay the outbound flight even more.
A minor semantic quibble perhaps, but in the interest of accuracy, you never survive an electrocution. The word itself is a combination of "electrical" and "execution." If you somehow survive an execution, then it wasn't an execution. You can receive an electrical shock, but if you survive, then the event was not an electrocution.
Very good info. I think with changing climates the wired connection with the ground staff to be shifted to Bluetooth or on other wireless protocols and platforms like IoT (Internet of Things) to name some. The ground staff can plug their radio modules with the receptor in the Aircraft and get connected wirelessly. It will be a litter safer bet in the stormy weather and easy in normal work days as they dont need to follow the length of wire with the Aircraft.
Need to make a correction... Faraday cages and skin effect can "cross paths" but they aren't the same thing. Skin effect refers to the tendency of current flow to happen at the outer surface of a solid conductor (the plane would need to be solid metal for this to come into play). A Faraday cage interferes with the passage of high frequency ("dv/dt" more accurately) energy and shields the inside of the cage by "shorting" it to itself or around whatever is being protected. In the case of the plane, the Faraday cage is indeed what's in play.
I’m surprised on such an expensive aircraft the makers of aircraft do not have a rotatable rear tail camera and under tail camera so you can check the outside. I was on an Air France A-380 and they had these cameras we could view upper and downward scenery. Really cool looking out at 40K feet
I was on a flight that was hit multiple times by lightening. The flight was in the middle of the night. I remember the guy in front of my watching the strikes hit the wing multiple times. He turned back to me and said I’m going to sleep. I hope I wake up and we are safe, I stayed up all night freakin out watching out the window. I remember that flight was on the same evening that the Air France flight blew up over Long Island.
Thank you for sharing your observation regarding climate change. While many people are still denying the physics based on ideology, more and more are being personally affected or at least seeing the changes with their own eyes.
Tip about refueling; on airplane they connect grounding cable to airplane to remove static charge but on your car you can touch your car with hand before touching car with refueling nozzle. If you don't do that spark can occur on wrong place and ignite fuel, especially gasoline is dangerous. Not doing that is at same level as smoking while refueling your car.
Hi Mentour Pilot. I really like your videos. Refreshing to see someone that really enjoys and loves life! :D My question is, are there any known cases where lightening has brought down an airliner? (I'm not talking about extremely old aircraft that may not have been equipped to handle it)
The faraday cage effect and the skin effect are actually different phenomena. A faraday cage is formed when an enclosed space has an even charge around the outside. Since charges of the same sign repel each other, being *surrounded* by charges of the same sign tends to completely cancel the net charge on the inside. This is true no matter the kind of electric current. The skin effect on the other hand applies only to AC or very short DC pulses of electric current. The changing magnetic field formed by the changing electric current induces other currents deeper in the conductor, flowing in the opposite direction, which cancel the main current out everywhere but a thin area at the surface. If the current keeps running constantly for long enough (as in a DC circuit) the magnetic field will eventually stabilize and the eddy currents will collapse, allowing the electricity to flow through the entire area of the conductor. This is why wires meant for AC current tend to be made of strands of smaller wires woven together, so they have a larger surface area.
The skin effect means the current passes through a conductor close the surface of the a conductor rather than center of the conductor. To increase the current carrying of a conductor small wires are woven together, to construct the conductor . this is true for both AC or DC current.
@Mentour Pilot 5:12 Have not seen that many lightning stikes to the radome, but to the diverter strips on it (which is what they are there for😆). Lightning strikes tend to go through the aircraft, so you`ll have a entry mark and a exit mark (or several..) On a 737NG; entries are most often: diverter strips and the fwd part of the fuselage (BSTA 170 - 380) Exits are most often: Static dischargers and on the trailing edge of wings, horizonal and vertical stabilizer and the conductive strip on the trailing edge wing and - hor.stab. The aft nav/pos lights also tend to get a beating. 🙃
I’m unable to find literature on: Lightning and it’s effects on the AHRS. There are magnetometers that senses the earth’s magnetic fields for heading indication. This topic has never been discussed but it could lead to an AHRS failure.
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen an aircraft lightning strike on the ground. You get to see ground wires melt and ground crews shake their underwear out. We stopped at lightning within 5 miles , sometimes you can’t.
Interesting that you think thunder storms are increasing in frequency, I was born in the early 1950's and have noticed a distinct lessening of thunder storms since the late 60's but a small increase in recent years so is there some other factor other than global warming such as solar activity.
I was in an airliner as a passenger about 35-40 years ago. We hit lightning. The captain announced "we've had a STATIC DISCHARGE but everything looks ok up on the flightdeck".
About the intensivity of europes thunderstorms: The southside of or house had normaly had a 99% chance of staying dry during bad weather...this year almost every thunderstorm was a) massive and b) reached the whole southside ... Also it seems to have happened more... In Switzerland there were this summer lots and lots of thunderstorms that lead to floodings, a thing that during the last 10 years almost never occured after a single thunderstorm...
I never once thought about ground personal with headphones connected by wire to the aircraft getting shocked when lightning hit the aircraft on the ground and went through a human on it's way to the ground... Knowing that does happen why don't they use wireless headphones to talk to the aircrew from the ground??? Technically this would not be hard to do using many channels.!!! Wireless is how people talk on the phone in buildings during thunderstorm activities without having to be concerned about being hit through telephone wires...
Any idea on what might have happened, damaged wise, to the recent Russian airliner that was supposedly struck by lightning and the flight controls were compromised?
I was on the plane that got hit by the lightening just as we were climbing. I saw it striking the wing. The captain made an announcement, saying that we were hit by lightning, but everything was fine and they were just going to run some checks. We did a few circles over the airport, the captain said everything was working fine and we continued to our destination as normal.
1:03 When I think that recently I was teaching my kids during a storm to count the secondes between seeing the lightning and hearing the sound of it, then divide by 3 to know how far the lightning is (in kilometres)... No I will not tell them that nowadays the sound can go at near the speed of light. hahahaha (joke)
I love how this guy always explains things in a simple, down to earth, easy to understand fashion. He's a natural teacher with great style.
His explanations of lightning are so down to earth, man.
bit of a legend
@@Shabon67 -_-
He’s quite literally a teacher though, it’s his job as a training captain
@@huskkyythat's what they call me... a training captain
You're a natural teacher and I love how you always credit any other channels, if you've borrowed their material. Extremely detailed, honest, and all around solid channel!
I was on a Korean Air flight from Seoul to Atlanta that was struck by lightning while climbing in altitude during takeoff. It was a loud bang and bright flash of light. But otherwise nothing else happened. Still gave everyone a quick panic though!
Q: Plane hit by lightning?
A: Queued AC/DC Thunderstruck call it a day.
Thank you for this explanation.
Lightening strike is one of those things I've been afraid of when flying. Turns out it's far more dangerous to get hit on the ground.
Dude, your right green light is burned (maybe because of the lightning). You should check it next time your sofa lands !
😆
Just had a stroke trying to say right green light in my head
😂⚡️
@@reedtassell4847same
I saw that light behind you in ikea and it’s so fascinating because it closes and opens when you pull the strings
It’s neat, isn’t it?
@@MentourPilot It makes me want to pull on my giggle stick!
"Don't worry a lightning cannot damage the passengers inside"
Believe me it's the plane carrying us in the sky that we worry about lol
I think you would care if a bolt of lightning could zap you in a plane
@@c00b Or even the pilot for that matter.
This got me.
Few years ago I was driving my Ford E-350 work van on top of an interstate overpass when Lightning struck the radio antenna just forward of the passenger side window, other than scarring the crap out of me I personally had no effects (had my window down a few inches), the antenna however was melted off with an approx. 3" round black spot in it's place. The radio was damaged and the fuel gauge no longer worked correctly, no other damage was recorded. First thing I did when off the highway was buy a lottery ticket, it is easier to get struck by lightning than win the lottery.
(Old comment, i know) Sounds like that van kept on rolling, did you have to declare a PAN-PAN since your fuel gauge went out? 😂
These videos are presented in such a calm manner, they don’t incite anxiety about whatever may happen. Good teaching skills.
I have like no business in flying planes. But subbed because this is interesting!! Keep it up dude!
I experienced a wing lighting strike in a 787 on final into Tel Aviv. We immediately diverted to Cyprus. There was very little experience with strikes to the 787 at that time. Air Canada flew in an empty 787 the next day with a bunch of engineers on board. Flew us back to Tel Aviv but the hit 787 stayed on Cyprus several days to check it out.
Bristow Helicopters Flight 56C was a nasty example of lightning damage, it blew the tail off the composite-material built helicopter. Thankfully the pilot landed on the sea and everyone survived
7:06 while "skin effect" describes a similar phenomenon it is something completely different. Skin effect describes the fact that in high frequency applications current only (owerwhelmingly) flows in the outer most past of a conductor. Even if the conductor is solid. Effectively increasing current density in those areas while decreasing in the core.
Very interesting video!
Great to hear from an actual pilot. Even though we can get a lot of info by reading stuffs its nice to have added practical experience to it.♥
Excellent video, and you’re right about intensity of storms increasing due to climate change.
I just came across your channel today. You're easy to understand, very informative, and one of the best RUclips channels I've seen. You don't rely on fancy graphics or try to fill up space, and everything is relevant and interesting. 👍
Appreciate all the work you do to put your videos together
I remember being at Hamilton airport (Canada), it took over 2 hours to board the aircraft because of local storm systems, they were not taking any chances. I missed my connecting flight as a result but to be honest, I would rather need to buy an extra bus ticket than the possible alternative.
Informative,thank you.
love your videos, filled with great content and very interesting. I’m an engineer by trade so when you go in depth it’s extremely interesting to me as I like to know the tech works not just that it exists! Keep up the good work and thank you.
Great video and very informative like always!
I'm probably your biggest fan in Arizona, United States.
We get huge monsoon storms that include huge dust storms and heavy rain dumps in the summer time and it can heavily affect PHX (Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport).
Capt...your videos are so well done! Tremendous value and information. Thank you!
Was it only me who frightened when the lightning sound effect was played?
Bumped into you again my friend 👍🏽👍🏽 I have almost no interest in planes in my day to day life then every once every once and a while you pop up in my suggested videos and I spend hours listening (and learning ) from you
The perfect explanations that give enough information while still making perfect sense! I'm onto different RUclips topics again now but I sure il be back soon 😊😊
Excellent vid as always. The footage of the "active cumulonimbus cloud" is much more than a mere cumulonimbus cloud... that thing has rotation in it, it's a supercell storm, and it's likely to be filled with hail, humongous quantities of rain and destructive winds.
Lightning is the least of your worries when dealing with a beast like this.
Don't even THINK about flying near this thing.
Don't know if it helps, but I always watch the hole advertisement till the end.
Hope you continue making awesome content, and keep inspiring everyone! :)
Its weekend and the Captain is back. Hope you stay healthy and always have air under your wings
Thank you! I always try to be back!
Mentour Pilot I Just got a question for you . Are there any differences between the 737 and the 737 "short field performance" besied the flaps system
Hope you also always have air over your wings.
Wonderful video, so glad to see them coming one after the other! :)
I love the funky guitar at the start - can we have some more of it please - GET DOWN - yeah !!
that strike in Stansted set my flight back 24 hours. it happened several hours before I arrived
Extremely informative content --- you've gained my subscription!
(I'm an aerospace engineering student, so it's interesting to hear your perspective of the aerospace industry as a pilot.)
I remember climbing out of Santo Dominigo airport a few years back. It was very obvious and everyone that didn’t know about the planes regulations for this lost their shit. The pilots and crew handled it very well saying the plane is made to resist stuff like this. It was during a small typical Caribbean storm, and was a weird experience to say the least.
I am always impressed with the way you explain things Petter! I always worry that the pilots might get blinded by the light because it is so bright and your windows are so much bigger than ours.
I experienced a lightning strike when flying to Bratislava from Sofia on July 3rd 2020. it was early morning and the plane had just taken off from Sofia Airport. It was raining outside, it was pretty dark and I was dozing off. Maybe 3-4 minutes into the ascend there was a loud bang and a super bright light that I saw even through my closed eyes. But it was gone before I even opened my eyes to see what happened. Nobody in the cabin seemed worried when I looked around and then I shrugged and tried to doze off again. Then one of the flight attendants made a PA that we had been struck by lightning, and there was nothing to worry about because the planes were built to endure those, and we'd continue to our final destination. Immediately everyone in the plane started to shift in their seat because till that moment we didn't know that the bang and the light was a lightning strike. However, another 2 minutes later the pilot made an announcement that we are being diverted to Budapest because our plane had to be checked, and we'd continue to Bratislava with a different plane. You can imagine absolutely nobody was calm anymore and I couldn't close my eyes till we landed in Budapest. Realistically, The flight felt absolutely normal, there was food service, the landing was great, the plane looked normal on the outside. I don't know what I could expect to see when I got out but I thought there'd be some sort of visible damage on the paint, at least. At the time I didn't know that the lightning could affect only a tiny part of the plane (like in your case), so I expected something dramatic and visible, haha. It was a day to remember :D
I am very thankful to the amazing pilots and crew from WizzAir who took care of our safety.
The 787 does not have a metal skin. However between the joins we use Tie Foil and the CFRP skin has what is called a CRN system built in. CRN is short term for current return network which is run throughout the entire Aircraft and let’s the lightning flow out through a static discharge and protects the aircraft!
I was on a plane that was struck once. I was sitting in the back of the plane I think 4th to last row. This happened maybe 10 minutes before landing around 9 at night descending through light rain with lightning visible and presumably heavier weather in the distance. It was extremely loud, it startled me for sure but I didn't see any effects in the cabin. When I got back into the gate I looked out the big picture windows at the plane and there was a dark spot on the forward tip of the tail.
Arriving from School on a friday and watching your videos=Perfection
Great to hear!
I was in an automobile that was struck and it was wild, extremely loud and the bright light was one of the brightest I’ve even encountered in my life, the car sustained alot of damage to different modules and tires but all In all was repairable
Love your videos. I’m not a pilot but these provide education to expand my mind.
This reminds me in Nov 1969 with launch of Apollo 12 (from the book “Apollo: The Race to the Moon”) then Saturn V left the pad but had a 1500 ft flame (that is conductive) so entire rocket and flame was a very tall lightning rod that attracted and struck by lightning.
Entire instrument panel in Command Module lit up like a christmas tree, attitude indicator ball went spinning wildly. However it did not effect launch flight because Saturn V rocket was controlled by the Instrument Ring, not Command Module systems.
Reaching orbit, and extensive systems check revealed no faults though they had to realign the platform. There was one system in doubts and that was parachute ejection systems. But then it is only used once so either use it returning from orbit or returning from the Moon (may as well put in lunar voyage).
Fast forward to Shuttle era, separation from bad weather became much larger.
Talking with a Navy pilot who flew in the late 1940s said on one flight his aircraft was struck by lightning multiple times, I asked what was that like. He said he was more focused flying the plane in extremely rough weather.
Excellent presentation!!! Thank you!
Great, I am happy you liked it!
Your series is absolutely brilliant.
Superb explanation with simple & elegance captain
Very well explained! As an electrical engineer I have to say that everything sounds fine to me. Good job, as ever.
I’d like to add that, the electricity always follows the path with the least resistance (the most conductive). The plane itself is a pressurized can of metal, so it passes thriugh the metal and around the inside, because obviously, metal is much more conductive than air or plastic.
Next video.....
French ATC strike!
Nick Breen lmao
That is why you do not fly Air France.
Sipismi or hop or klm as they are both owned by Air France
Next video...RYR vs the rest of the World ;)
Poor Mentor, he'd LOVE to comment on this but just can't. Oh well he has me to call out any elephants that might be in a room.
Very nice and thorough explanation!
I was a passenger on a flight from Baltimore to Chicago that was struck by lightning. There was a big weather front in the area. It was quite 'shocking'. The pilot's PA afterwards was to say it happened, they were a bit busy at first, now everything is under control. We will be landing normally but you will see rescue vehicles on the runway which is standard and not to be concerned. We were on national news that night.
The lights in the cabin went out for several seconds.
Lightning stikes are scary.. I hope that pushback guy didnt suffer much damages to his body... Wow that was horrific lightining hit.. From the tail fin to the headset of the pushback guy and then to the ground..
You should have your own TV show! Amazing video as always! Thanks!!!
I was hoping you would have addressed the question " when airborne and struck by lightening, why doesn`t the fuel ignite? "
For the same reason that you don’t. Because the lightning is conducted through the skin of the aircraft and out again.
@@MentourPilot this is not the full story. there HAVE been fuel tanks that exploded due to arcing inside fuel tanks as a side effect of lightning strikes... but that is why fuel tanks are now lined to prevent arcing, wiring has changed, and even nitrogen rich air is pumped into tanks to prevent combustion. conduction of electrical charge through the skin can cause sympathetic conduction in electrical lines nearby as well, which again is why wiring in planes is done differently now than it used to be.
Petter, about the increase in lightning ground strikes, that is actually very easy to explain and it is not due to climate. Firstly, the pollutants in the emissions from engines (cars, jets, or prop) is conductive because it and the heated air from the exhaust is ionized. This means when the stepped leader from the cloud starts downward it will be drawn to the area with high concentration of charged ionized air at ground level. This was discovered during a study done in Houston, Texas about 15 or 20 year ago to track lightning strike within major cities and it was noted that the area with high frequency of strikes occurred on or near freeways especially during times of high traffic congestion such as during rush hours and around gas and oil refineries and chemical plants in the area. Air travel has grown tremendously and the number of aircrafts in airports is higher than ever. I am old enough to remember (hint: I rode on the 707 when they were first introduced) airports were not crowded and passengers use to embark and de-plane by walking to and from the aircraft. Given the high volume of aircraft in airports these days, it is not surprising that there would be a corresponding increase in lightning ground strikes. Thanks for your videos and have a fantastic day.
You should do a video why you are not allowed with liquids over 100ml on board
It’s because bombs can be made using liquids and 100ml is a small enough amount that it won’t be as bad. Buts that’s just a guess
Except, 100 ml nitroglycerin is alot.
@@tecyhead that ignores the fact that you can bring mulptiple quantities of 100ml liquid containers
Google “security theater” for most of these kind of questions
He probably can't, because it is really not possible to discuss that topic without giving away some pretty big secrets that help keep people safe. AND PLEASE DO NOT PUBLICLY SPECULATE ON SUCH THINGS.
Mentour Pilot, first of all thank you for your interesting videos! Could it be, that you meant a "plasma ball" at 6:06? This kind of device was invented by Nicolas Tesla in 1892 and it uses a Tesla coil to generate the needed high voltage for the ionisation of the gases in the sphere.
Very possible.
Why is your company not wanting to be associated with the videos? Your approach is professional, friendly, and very safety conscious. Actually knowing which company you fly for makes me much more willing to use them, but they do not come here.
Thank you Petter, another great video with some fascinating information. A question for future consideration if I may. As technology increases, so does the requirement of the radio system for Nav and communication. There seem to be many instances of different squawk codes for differing scenarios and multiple channels etc. It seems like a complex system.Has this been explained in a previous video, as I haven't come across it yet? ( I've only been subscribed for a short time - great content, thank you)
That ASA crj200 wasnt a lightning strike. It was a shorted contactor in JB1 and improper routing of the observers oxygen mask supply lines. Happened on the ground.
Our A320 was struck by lightning over Bali yesterday on descending. It was loud and all cabin lights flashed when it happened. It’s a massive storm...
Lightning strikes shouldn't be a big issue for the structure since they're very high frequency and will stay on the skin of the aircraft and cloud discharges are much less potent than ground discharges.
I guess the electromagnetic interference would be a bigger issue but sitting inside a huge Faraday cage helps.
My dad was once in a passenger plane when lightning hit it with a loud crack that scared the hell out of everyone on board. Other than a burnt nose, the aircraft was fine.
cellogirl11RW Weeeeeell..your dad didnt perform the lightning strike inspection did he? 🤭
My cousin & her husband were flying to Florida from Maine. His first flight. They were struck by lightening. They had their vacation but rented a car & drove back to Maine. He didn't fy again for 20 years
Amazing , and the latest lightning research implies some lightning is pre indicated by a cosmic ray path that ionises a pathway to make it a likely route also enabling some pre lighting prediction by a few minutes but I didn't understand how.
Regarding composite structures, DO-328s, with mostly composite aft fuselage & empennage, seemed to draw more than their fair share of lightning strikes compared to BAe 146s, CRJ-200s, et al. Didn't generally seem to do any worse damage, though. NTSB report DCA09FA033 details the fire on that CRJ-200.
On a DC9 climbing out of Fargo ND, we were struck by lightning. There was a loud bang and the plane started to go silent. The flaps were extended and I thought we were going to go back and land. They lost engine power and it seemed like we were just floating down. After what seemed like forever, we heard the engines relit and we thrusted out under the clouds and on to Minneapolis. We were quite alarmed and the pilots telling the crew to sit and passengers to hold their children. It was definitely scary.
Very useful information effectively delivered. Thanks, and well done.
Thank you! I am happy you liked it!
@Mentour Pilot A few years ago I was on a Ryanair flight from Berlin to Shannon ? (not Dublin, but could have been other City...). On approach, late evening, we had a lightning strike. I 100% believe so, big bang a flash. My recommendation for any pilot would be to acknowledge that over the intercom to the passengers!! It was just silence and dark in the cabin. I wasn't sure there are still pilots in control or just the autopilot. The plane was just flying straight ahead.... just like that Helios flight, which happened around that time earlier.
I always thought, there was NEVER damage to aircraft because they are not GROUNDED. After seeing this video, a HOLE near a cockpit and the other images, changed my mind. Like he said, most of the time, don't worry :-) Excellent Videos as usual :-)
I was 14 years old,, looking out a window an home, and lightning struck the power pole ground not 40 feet from me. It was so bright and loud, I fell to the floor. No injury or damage to anything, but it frightened me badly. I would guess if my bladder or bowels had been full, they'd have been empty after the strike. I can only imagine what it would be like in an aircraft.
Talk about wind shear: How to plan for it? How to detect it? How to respond? How to recover?
I second that request.
Great explanation after the recent thunderstorm in the uk
Im so happy you liked it RS.
you should have mentioned the development of internal systems to reduce the chances of sparks happening within the air frame and structures. things like nitrogen being pumped into fuel tanks, spark dampeners, changes in how wiring is done, etc. because there have been documented fuel tank explosions from lightning strikes in the past.
I watched your video on fueltanks in the wings and therefore I am thinking about lightning strikes creating holes on the wing surface. Has lightning ever ruptured fuel tanks? That should be really dangrous, especially with the other electric phenomenons you described.
Yes, there have been incidents of fuel tanks exploding due to sparks arcing inside the fuel tank from a lightning strike. this is why they created different wiring systems, lined tanks to prevent arcing, and even filled tanks with nitrogen rich air to prevent combustion inside the tanks.
Awesome! I had no idea that aircraft also experience saint Elmo's fire. I thought that was just a boat thing.
Loving this, especially your real life experiences.
Been on 2 flights where the aircraft was struck. First time was known. There was a bright flash, and a loud 'knock'. not a crack or thunder sound, more like using your knuckle to knock on a door. Nothing happened inside the cabin. no flicker of lights, no pressure change, nor did the aircraft have a sudden drop or anything. One of the pilots (not sure if it was C or FO) came on and stated, yup, that was lightning. All is good up here. Flight continued as normal.
The second flight, there was no indication to the passengers. Only reason I knew, was because we were waiting on the jet-bridge for the gate checked bags (was and EMB145) And a pilot was all upset about having to do the lighting check procedure, and delay the outbound flight even more.
A minor semantic quibble perhaps, but in the interest of accuracy, you never survive an electrocution. The word itself is a combination of "electrical" and "execution." If you somehow survive an execution, then it wasn't an execution. You can receive an electrical shock, but if you survive, then the event was not an electrocution.
Very good info.
I think with changing climates the wired connection with the ground staff to be shifted to Bluetooth or on other wireless protocols and platforms like IoT (Internet of Things) to name some. The ground staff can plug their radio modules with the receptor in the Aircraft and get connected wirelessly. It will be a litter safer bet in the stormy weather and easy in normal work days as they dont need to follow the length of wire with the Aircraft.
True, but just holding operation works as well. The aircraft won’t be taking off in a storm anyway.
Need to make a correction... Faraday cages and skin effect can "cross paths" but they aren't the same thing. Skin effect refers to the tendency of current flow to happen at the outer surface of a solid conductor (the plane would need to be solid metal for this to come into play). A Faraday cage interferes with the passage of high frequency ("dv/dt" more accurately) energy and shields the inside of the cage by "shorting" it to itself or around whatever is being protected. In the case of the plane, the Faraday cage is indeed what's in play.
I’m surprised on such an expensive aircraft the makers of aircraft do not have a rotatable rear tail camera and under tail camera so you can check the outside. I was on an Air France A-380 and they had these cameras we could view upper and downward scenery. Really cool looking out at 40K feet
Maannn... I was listening to this on headphones and I was not expecting that crack of lightning 😂
I was on a flight that was hit multiple times by lightening. The flight was in the middle of the night. I remember the guy in front of my watching the strikes hit the wing multiple times. He turned back to me and said I’m going to sleep. I hope I wake up and we are safe, I stayed up all night freakin out watching out the window. I remember that flight was on the same evening that the Air France flight blew up over Long Island.
I was listening through my headphones .... thanks for the lightning strike; nearly spat my coffee 🤣
You took Captain Joe's "lighting vs aeroplane" video . Zoomed it in. Added your text and added outlines. Nice 👍👌
Really?! I don’t do my thumbnails, a friend does. I have to check that up,
Thank you for sharing your observation regarding climate change. While many people are still denying the physics based on ideology, more and more are being personally affected or at least seeing the changes with their own eyes.
Tip about refueling; on airplane they connect grounding cable to airplane to remove static charge but on your car you can touch your car with hand before touching car with refueling nozzle. If you don't do that spark can occur on wrong place and ignite fuel, especially gasoline is dangerous.
Not doing that is at same level as smoking while refueling your car.
Hi Mentour Pilot.
I really like your videos. Refreshing to see someone that really enjoys and loves life! :D
My question is, are there any known cases where lightening has brought down an airliner? (I'm not talking about extremely old aircraft that may not have been equipped to handle it)
There was a crash back in the eighties, I believe, where lightning was deemed the cause but it was, indeed, an old aircraft type,
Reminds me of the Saturn V rocket getting hit by lightning during Apollo 12 launch.
The faraday cage effect and the skin effect are actually different phenomena. A faraday cage is formed when an enclosed space has an even charge around the outside. Since charges of the same sign repel each other, being *surrounded* by charges of the same sign tends to completely cancel the net charge on the inside. This is true no matter the kind of electric current. The skin effect on the other hand applies only to AC or very short DC pulses of electric current. The changing magnetic field formed by the changing electric current induces other currents deeper in the conductor, flowing in the opposite direction, which cancel the main current out everywhere but a thin area at the surface. If the current keeps running constantly for long enough (as in a DC circuit) the magnetic field will eventually stabilize and the eddy currents will collapse, allowing the electricity to flow through the entire area of the conductor. This is why wires meant for AC current tend to be made of strands of smaller wires woven together, so they have a larger surface area.
The skin effect means the current passes through a conductor close the surface of the a conductor rather than center of the conductor. To increase the current carrying of a conductor small wires are woven together, to construct the conductor . this is true for both AC or DC current.
He never talked about Skin Effect .
@Mentour Pilot 5:12 Have not seen that many lightning stikes to the radome, but to the diverter strips on it (which is what they are there for😆).
Lightning strikes tend to go through the aircraft, so you`ll have a entry mark and a exit mark (or several..) On a 737NG; entries are most often: diverter strips and the fwd part of the fuselage (BSTA 170 - 380) Exits are most often: Static dischargers and on the trailing edge of wings, horizonal and vertical stabilizer and the conductive strip on the trailing edge wing and - hor.stab. The aft nav/pos lights also tend to get a beating. 🙃
I’m unable to find literature on: Lightning and it’s effects on the AHRS. There are magnetometers that senses the earth’s magnetic fields for heading indication.
This topic has never been discussed but it could lead to an AHRS failure.
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen an aircraft lightning strike on the ground. You get to see ground wires melt and ground crews shake their underwear out. We stopped at lightning within 5 miles , sometimes you can’t.
Pilot: this is your Captain. I am sure you have noticed the 2 lightning strikes. Please stop making Thor angry. Thank you.
Interesting that you think thunder storms are increasing in frequency, I was born in the early 1950's and have noticed a distinct lessening of thunder storms since the late 60's but a small increase in recent years so is there some other factor other than global warming such as solar activity.
I'd like to know more about your personal experiences, concerning a changing climate, in relation to your career in Aviation. Interesting stuff.
I was in an airliner as a passenger about 35-40 years ago. We hit lightning. The captain announced "we've had a STATIC DISCHARGE but everything looks ok up on the flightdeck".
Great Video Mentour an normal!
Thank you!
No Problem Sir :)
About the intensivity of europes thunderstorms: The southside of or house had normaly had a 99% chance of staying dry during bad weather...this year almost every thunderstorm was a) massive and b) reached the whole southside ...
Also it seems to have happened more...
In Switzerland there were this summer lots and lots of thunderstorms that lead to floodings, a thing that during the last 10 years almost never occured after a single thunderstorm...
I never once thought about ground personal with headphones connected by wire to the aircraft getting shocked when lightning hit the aircraft on the ground and went through a human on it's way to the ground... Knowing that does happen why don't they use wireless headphones to talk to the aircrew from the ground??? Technically this would not be hard to do using many channels.!!! Wireless is how people talk on the phone in buildings during thunderstorm activities without having to be concerned about being hit through telephone wires...
actually if the building would be badly constructed a mobile device could still be hit...the probability is verry small though...
Any idea on what might have happened, damaged wise, to the recent Russian airliner that was supposedly struck by lightning and the flight controls were compromised?
I was on the plane that got hit by the lightening just as we were climbing. I saw it striking the wing. The captain made an announcement, saying that we were hit by lightning, but everything was fine and they were just going to run some checks. We did a few circles over the airport, the captain said everything was working fine and we continued to our destination as normal.
Tranquility Tranquility They still need to make a log entry and have a engineer do a lightning strike inspection after it has landed.
1:03 When I think that recently I was teaching my kids during a storm to count the secondes between seeing the lightning and hearing the sound of it, then divide by 3 to know how far the lightning is (in kilometres)... No I will not tell them that nowadays the sound can go at near the speed of light. hahahaha (joke)
Its pretty badass seeing that plane take a lightning strike and keep flying like it’s nothing