How do planes avoid lightning?

Question

planes go through thick heavy rainy clouds --and I never heard of planes destroyed by lightinning?

Answer 1

planes are above the clouds so they are safe from lightining

Answer 2

well they avoid flying at heavy lightning days

Answer 3

Most pilots avoid lightning by staying away from storm areas.  Planes can't avoid lightning.  but are not often damaged even if struck.  There have been cases of aircraft destruction from lightning but that is very rare.

Answer 4

Airplanes get struck by lightning all the time, even on clear days. It very rarely does any damage, and the crew and passengers usually don't even know it happened.

Answer 5

There are two cases where a plane was destroyed by lighting. Both of them involved the lighting causing a spark that set off the fuel tanks. (See sources).

HOWEVER, today's planes are basically immune to lighting. Since the exterior of the airplane is made of metal, it conducts electricity with little resistance. The lighting simply goes around the skin of the aircraft and back into the air again.

Most people would think that metal would actually make it more dangerous for the airplane to fly into lighting, it's actually the opposite. If the airplane was made of something like carbon fiber or something that doesn't conduct electricity, the massive resistance would cause the airplane to heat up very rapidly and would possibly penetrate into the interior of the airplane.

This is because electricity tries to find the route with the least resistance, which can include people, luggage, laptops, or anything that better conducts electricity inside the airplane.

Think of the lighting rod on tall buildings. It's conductive and whenever lighting strikes it, it goes into the rod, and follows it into the ground. If the lighting were to strike the building, which may not be able to conduct it along it's exterior, it could seriously damage the exterior and the interior of the building.

The metal skin of the aircraft is just like the lighting rod on tall buildings.

In order to make sure that the lighting doesn't create any static electricity that would interfere with the communications or electrical equipment, there are "static discharge wicks" that are attached to the trailing edges of the wings which discharge electricity into the air.

Now, the reason why it seems pilots try to avoid lighting is because lighting is caused by thunderclouds (duh). It so happens that thunderclouds create the one of the MOST amounts of turbulence and wind sheer for aircraft. Well, the pilot would want to avoid the unstable air, and coincidently, avoids lighting as well.

Answer 6

Only people with exceeding rapid reflexes are allowed to have pilot licenses.  This way, as soon as a pilot sees a lightning bolt headed his way, he can take evasive action.

Answer 7

Aircrafts are equipped with weather radar's and windshear detection systems.Pilots are breifed about their flight plan and the weather enroute and given a through instruction about their flight.

First of all if the pilot has a prior information of a bad weather and impending lightening strike he will not fly to it and the weather radar which also has an interface with the auto-pilot system helps the aircraft from avioding a lightening strike.

Even after all these there is every possibility for an aircraft to have an lightening strike.Aircraft's are designed to withstand lightening strikes with static discrage wicks fitted on the wing tips,rudder tips as well as elevator tips.These static discharge wicks dissipate the static charge built up in an aircraft due to lightening strikes and prevents any serious damage to the aircraft as a whole.Moreover during aircraft manufacturing the designers select specific materials to enhance these characteristic .Almost every part in the aircraft have a passage for the static charge to travell via a bonding jumper so that all these built in static charge ultimately dischare through the static discharge wicks.

Answer 8

BY STAYING AWAY FROM THEM

Answer 9

They don't, but are specially designed to send it out as soon as it comes in and not damage the electrical system (videos on google)

Answer 10

By looking at the storm scope, xm weather if they have it (both display lightning strikes) and generally just staying the **** away from the cb's and embeddeds...

Answer 11

Aircraft are built and designed to survive lightning strikes. They do not intentionally fly into storm areas or those that would produce lightning, but sometimes cannot avoid it.

Answer 12

well..in air lightining strike dont hit to any one.

you are in air suspended freely without any connection wid ground wont effect u also. the lightining strike will make u only charged and thus u r not conducting it so u wont hurt.

IN AIRCRAFT THE LIGHT STRIKES AND THE CHARGES ARE DISTRIBUTED ALL OVER THEM. THE AIRCRAFT HAS ZERO POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COMPONENTS AND THUS ALL PARTS GET EQUALLY CHARGED.

NOW IN FLIGHT THE AIRCRAFT ARE EQUIPPED WITH STATIC DISCHARGER WHICH SLOWLY DISCAHRGE ALL THE STATIC CHARGES IN AIR COME ON AIRCRAFT DUE TO LIGHT