Lightning Damage to Aircraft, Part 1

Patrick Veillette, Ph.D. October 07, 2021

The moment a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt struck an aircraft at low altitude. Notice that the lightning bolt entered the aircraft near the forward part of the fuselage and exited near the tail. “Entry” and “exit” points are common damage to an aircraft as a result of a lightning strike. Credit: National Weather Service

The French Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales (ONERA) estimates that each airplane in the U.S. commercial fleet is struck by lightning on average at least once every 1,000 flight hours. The damage incurred by these lightning strikes accounts for approximately $2 billion in...

Patrick Veillette, Ph.D.

Upon his retirement as a non-routine flight operations captain from a fractional operator in 2015, Dr. Veillette had accumulated more than 20,000 hours of flight experience in 240 types of aircraft—including balloons, rotorcraft, sea planes, gliders, war birds, supersonic jets and large commercial transports. He is an adjunct professor at Utah Valley University.

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