Jet Jockey

We either got a lightning strike or we had a massive static discharge.

None of the aircraft's systems were affected but I saw a blue bolt of light in front of the aircraft's nose followed by a huge "bang".

What ever it was, it exited the aircraft through the left hand carbon fibre wing tip.

Aircraft now grounded at Midway airport until maintenance arranges for a "special" lightning inspection which will determine the next steps to follow to get the aircraft back up in the air.

hoffa

woah that must have felt like a code brown moment. Glad you are ok.

moab

at what altitude did it happen?

RDMcG

The main thing is that all on board were OK.

Jet Jockey

Actually no, things like this don’t faze me at all.

Feld

Please share the findings from the inspection, interesting.

wildcat077

We get full lightning strike inspections all the time at work ,at least the exit point is clearly visible in this case.When we get a B787 or an A330 in our hangars it can take a whole shift for an inspection as we have to inspect the whole fuselage from top to bottom, front to back.
I’ve seen A330 wing tip glass light lenses melted from the heat at the exit point …

Lightning strikes are a common thing in the aviation industry, although it must be something to see from the cockpit if it hits the radome !

Cheers
Phil

westcoastj

Glad you're okay!

Just to confirm, you didn't leave your flight in 2017 right? (Manifest joke)

Muskoka

Glad to hear the airplane worked fine after the hit. I assumed they were designed to take a hit. But, I’m a bit surprised to see a burned wing tip. I thought they would take a lightning strike without that kind of physical damage.

I have no engineering/electrical/airplane experience, so perhaps this is what is supposed to happen.

928gt

From an electrical perspective, the smaller the cross-sectional area of a conductor, the less current it can carry. With the wing tip coming to a point, it can't safely conduct as much juice as the rest of the wing and/or the aluminum fuselage, hence the burnt out wing tip.

Jet Jockey

See update post.