On 02/13/2012 11:17 AM, Martin Olliver wrote:
> Hi All. Has anyone experienced a lightning strike in a Europa? If not
> what is the perceived result of such a strike?
The result is impossible to predict. Lightning stikes comes in all sizes
and shapes. You can get a little protection against very light strikes
(for of course a weight penalty), but since you don't know what is going
to strike you there is just one effective measure: stay away from
anything that looks like a TS.
If you embed copper mesh in your wings it will make your wings much
heavier, and of course if the strike is heavy enough the mesh will melt
anyway and take the wing with it. Any strike generates heat, and as we
all know our Europa's can not tolerate much heat, not much what we can
do about it except for using aluminium instead of glass fiber.
As much as the size and direction of lightning strikes vary, so do the
results. The best in terms of survivability are vertical strikes. They
don't search for your airplane, you just have to fly through a strike in
progress. Alas, they are the least occuring stikes in airplanes. Much
more occuring are spanwise and lenghtwise strikes. Your airplane offers
an electric charge a comfortable path to find its opponent. Also, your
exhaust fumes leave a trail of extra conductive air, due to the carbon
and extra moisture in it. Any charge following that trail will find your
airplane. Spanwise strikes bring the risk of welding the aileron
controls, and of course the heat expands the air in the wings and the
wings may just blow apart. Lenghtwise strikes will likely travel via the
rudder cables. Apart from taking the ruddder out when the tiny cables
melt, they might melt through the fuel tank which is just an inch away.
Heat and fuel don't go along very well. And of course the rudder cables
end at the rudder pedals, so I hope you don't have wet feet when it happens.
The avionics and electric systems are the least of your concerns, but
anything might fail, if not everything. It is likely you can't talk to
anyone anymore, have no navigation anymore, and have to land your
crippled airplane trimmed for cruise speed and possibly without rudder
or aileron control without assistance. If you survived the initial
strike at all of course.
I remember the story of someone who got hit by lightning. They found his
airplane with all the controls welded. Some research revealed that the
poor pilot had flown for at least 10 minutes after all the controls
where welded inmovable before he crashed...
So, I will avoid thunderstorms at all costs.
In my airplane I installed a stormscope. If it indicates anything
threatening closer than 100nm, I will just land and fly another day.
Frans
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