Do airplanes get struck by lightning?

Answer 1

Yes, they do, much more often than you think, in the early days of jet passenger transport, lightning was a great threat, There was an incident when the wing of a very old Boeing 707 (now not in service with any airline) was hit by lightning igniting the fuel tanks and killing everyone onboard. However Aircraft are now designed to discharge of electrical currents as quickly as it was hit. By using small wicks on the trailing edge of the wings and tail of the aircraft, I have lost count of how many times an aircraft ive been flying has been hit by lightning, Infact a 747-400 I was flying into Heathrow just 2 weeks ago was hit by lightning, No generators ripped offline, No passengers electrocuted, No ignited fuel tanks, Just a dull thud on the starboard wing , It was so un-alarming the first officer didnt even look up from the checklist he was reading as we were getting ready to start the approach. The mechanics later found a small black smudge no bigger than an egg about 3ft from the number 4 turbine. There really is no need to worry.......unless your flying on a Russian Illyshin aicraft.........Just joking Hope this helps :)