What protects planes from lightning strikes?

Answer 1

They aren't grounded.

Lightning strikes because there is an electrical difference between the clouds and the ground. Nothing that isn't attached to the ground or insulated from the ground will be hit by lightning.

Answer 2

Although passengers and crew may see a flash and hear a loud noise if lightning strikes their plane, nothing serious should happen because of the careful lightning protection engineered into the aircraft and its sensitive components. Initially, the lightning will attach to an extremity such as the nose or wing tip. The airplane then flies through the lightning flash, which reattaches itself to the fuselage at other locations while the airplane is in the electric "circuit" between the cloud regions of opposite polarity. The current will travel through the conductive exterior skin and structures of the aircraft and exit off some other extremity, such as the tail. Pilots occasionally report temporary flickering of lights or short-lived interference with instruments.

Most aircraft skins consist primarily of aluminum, which conducts electricity very well. By making sure that no gaps exist in this conductive path, the engineer can assure that most of the lightning current will remain on the exterior of the aircraft. Some modern aircraft are made of advanced composite materials, which by themselves are significantly less conductive than aluminum. In this case, the composites contain an embedded layer of conductive fibers or screens designed to carry lightning currents.

Answer 3

lightning doesn't only happen when something is grounded.if something is negatively charged.
primarily planes fly above clouds so no lightning comes from above
when they land and take off the is a rod that protects and neglects the charges from clouds from interacting with the charges in the plane

Answer 4

most of the time the current goes through the plane and right back out again because most of the components are grounded to the airframe. electricity seeks the path of least resistance. that's not to say that they're not damaged but most the time you'll never know it because all commercial jets have backup systems. their is the occasional crash due to lighting and that is usually because something wasn't grounded properly and the electricity is then allowed into what ever system that is. And yes if you were a pass. on one of these flights you would have to change your pants because it's loud as hell and there is a flash of light that all is very frightening.

Answer 5

Their metallic exterior allow the electric pulse to travel around the surface of the plane, otherwise it would burn through the plane wing or body. That was a major flaw of planes made of lightweight but strong composite materials. They got around that by adhering a metallic grid to the exterior of the plane.

Answer 6

Aircraft do get struck by lighting- a few things happen:

1)The lighting will go around the outside of the aircraft- essentially the airplane acts as a Faraday Cage for the people, electronic equipment and stuff inside so they're all protected.

2)The airplane itself isn't grounded to anything- that is to say, its not directly connected to a return path so the energy just flows around it.

Answer 7

Nothing protects the plane. However they have double systems for almost everything. But no one is 100% safe when flying, just like you're not 100% safe when driving or walking.

Answer 8

Nothing, planes are struck all the time. Because of the structure, no one inside will be struck, but they try to avoid storms anyway.
a good stike could hurt the planes electronics.

Answer 9

the plane does not have a positive charge which is what attacts lightning to the ground

Answer 10

fly higher than the clouds..woo