Frans,
That is the best approach!
I do fully agree.
Don't fly in or near clouds especially those convective ones...
There is no such thing as a "mild" TS...
Blue Skies!
Ivan
Frmr FC at SOS Flygambulans AB
KajakCenter Halland
Org nr; 5805034625
P: +46 703 621310
P: +46 704 694444
M: midwing@telia.com
W: www.kajakcenter-halland.se
14 feb 2012 kl. 11:37 skrev Frans Veldman <frans@privatepilots.nl>:
>
> On 02/13/2012 11:17 AM, Martin Olliver wrote:
>
>> Hi All. Has anyone experienced a lightning strike in a Europa? If not
>> what is the perceived result of such a strike?
>
> The result is impossible to predict. Lightning stikes comes in all sizes
> and shapes. You can get a little protection against very light strikes
> (for of course a weight penalty), but since you don't know what is going
> to strike you there is just one effective measure: stay away from
> anything that looks like a TS.
>
> If you embed copper mesh in your wings it will make your wings much
> heavier, and of course if the strike is heavy enough the mesh will melt
> anyway and take the wing with it. Any strike generates heat, and as we
> all know our Europa's can not tolerate much heat, not much what we can
> do about it except for using aluminium instead of glass fiber.
>
> As much as the size and direction of lightning strikes vary, so do the
> results. The best in terms of survivability are vertical strikes. They
> don't search for your airplane, you just have to fly through a strike in
> progress. Alas, they are the least occuring stikes in airplanes. Much
> more occuring are spanwise and lenghtwise strikes. Your airplane offers
> an electric charge a comfortable path to find its opponent. Also, your
> exhaust fumes leave a trail of extra conductive air, due to the carbon
> and extra moisture in it. Any charge following that trail will find your
> airplane. Spanwise strikes bring the risk of welding the aileron
> controls, and of course the heat expands the air in the wings and the
> wings may just blow apart. Lenghtwise strikes will likely travel via the
> rudder cables. Apart from taking the ruddder out when the tiny cables
> melt, they might melt through the fuel tank which is just an inch away.
> Heat and fuel don't go along very well. And of course the rudder cables
> end at the rudder pedals, so I hope you don't have wet feet when it happens.
> The avionics and electric systems are the least of your concerns, but
> anything might fail, if not everything. It is likely you can't talk to
> anyone anymore, have no navigation anymore, and have to land your
> crippled airplane trimmed for cruise speed and possibly without rudder
> or aileron control without assistance. If you survived the initial
> strike at all of course.
>
> I remember the story of someone who got hit by lightning. They found his
> airplane with all the controls welded. Some research revealed that the
> poor pilot had flown for at least 10 minutes after all the controls
> where welded inmovable before he crashed...
>
> So, I will avoid thunderstorms at all costs.
> In my airplane I installed a stormscope. If it indicates anything
> threatening closer than 100nm, I will just land and fly another day.
>
> Frans
>
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>
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