In a message dated 6/10/2008 3:00:42 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
europa-list@matronics.com writes:
Before I head off to Asia, I plan to put aluminium mesh right along
the aileron and flap close outs joining to the rear lift pin to allow wing
tip to wing tip lightning travel
Hi David,
FWIW, my wife and I had lightning strike very near us while flying our
Ximango last summer on a 500K attempt. We were deep in a drought here and it
hadn't rained in 4 months. The lift was fantastic for this area during this
time,
i.e, greater than 10 knots to going to 10,000'+ agl every day. I had been
flying long cross country flights every day for about 3 weeks, including
several
successful 500k attempts. There had not been even a hint of weather
overdevelopment during that time. We were about 300K into the attempt and were
approaching a nearby gliderport that was our last turnpoint for the final home
run
leg to complete the 500K. There was a fairly large storm about 20 miles away,
but we were in clear air between puffy, friendly cumulus clouds at about
9000'. We were gliding along engine off at about 80 knots between thermals when
a lightning bolt struck right out in front of us out of clear blue sky. I'd
always heard that this could happen, but I'd never witnessed it first hand. We
saw where it hit the ground and where that was in relation to our turn
point. According to the GPS and our observation, the lightning was no more than
1/4th of a mile or so in front of us. The flash and the resulting boom were
almost simultaneous. Needless to say it got our attention. I immediately
aborted
the course in an abrupt 90 degree wingover and proceeded to put as much
distance between us and that storm as possible. The rest of the flight was
uneventful. Whether or not we triggered the strike is unknown. It didn't hit us
and there was no damage to the aircraft. I probably hyper-extended my sphincter
muscle, though.
After we returned to my strip I began to wonder if the Ximango was bonded.
So, I started inspecting. Turns out that Aeromot did bond virtually every
metal surface in the aircraft together. They used fairly heavy gauge braided
jumpers made from tinned copper to tie everything metal together to prevent
arcing. I'm considering doing the same to my Europa.
I certainly give thunderboomers a much wider berth these days.
Regards,
John Lawton
Whitwell, TN (TN89)
N245E - Flying
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