SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- As the end of May approaches, summer travel season is picking up, and so are summer storms. ABC57 Meteorologist Oliver Moster recently found himself at an interesting intersection when his plane got struck by lightning.
Thankfully nothing bad happened, the plane was on its descent, but a flash of light filled the cabin, and a little boom was heard, which sparked his brain. What happens to a plane when lightning strikes it?
“Airplanes are designed to where they can handle a lightning strike, but there can be damage done to the airplane, so if that particular airplane was indeed struck by lightning that crew would’ve reported it when they landed. Then the maintainers would need to go out and see if they can find any place on the airplane where the airplane had been struck. And then here’s the fun part after it’s been hit now you need to go find where it exited," said Dr. Mike Davis, the Associate Chair for the School of Aviation at Purdue University, who specializes in airplane maintenance.
He says when a plane gets struck by lightning, the most likely scenario is that the lightning will hit the plane then travel to dissipators on the wings, with most modern planes built to direct any electricity toward the wings.
Now while the lightning is traveling, it may cause some damage, so crews will check the plane before it flies again. The big thing to remember is that a plane getting struck by lightning isn’t dangerous, and can really only happen at two points, takeoff and descent, while the plane is traveling through and below clouds.
Lightning isn't even the most dangerous severe weather event for planes.
Davis said, “Something that’s actually worse than lightning would be hail because that can actually break windshields and cause all kinds of damage to the engines and stuff like that. So as far as that type of weather, that just has to be avoided"
Now again, it isn’t very likely that a plane gets struck by lightning, but if it does, just remember planes are built to withstand them, they just might need a little checkup.