Hi all,
I departed yesterday from KUES up to Canada. About 90 minutes into the trip I
took a lightning hit. The weather was forecasted VFR clear, however about 70
minutes into the trip I began to suspect all was "not as advertised". I noticed
a cloud about 15 miles of my port side this looked ominous so I diverted away
---From it. I was about to call flight service when suddenly I saw a bright
flash
on the tip of my starboard wind. The starboard side was clear weather so
I may have been struck from the port side, but it was hard to tell. The main
contactor dropped off line so things went pretty quite until I kicked in the
"E Buss" circuit.
Damage is as follows. The paint is blistered on the starboard wing tip and the
port side is only blackened. Internal inspection reveals no sign of burning.
The wind tip lights are destroyed with some of the screws melted. My Narco
122 VOR/LOC/GS is destroyed, my Navaids the electronic fuel gauge, the main
battery
contactor and the manifold pressure sensing input to the EIS engine monitor.
The Apollo GX 60 GPS/NAV/Com and transponder survived.
There appears to by no structural damage to the aircraft or welding of the
control
elements. I will know more over the next few days. It appeared that the
lighting entered a wing tip, traveled along the common ground between the LED
wing tip lights and exited the other wing tip.
Paul
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