Can a lightning crash a plane?

Answer 1

Yes, but not likely.

Lightning tends not to hit planes, because it's looking for a conduit to the earth, which the plane doesn't provide. Most planes have precautions taken to prevent a crash if it is hit, though. But given the right circumstances (crappy plane, direct hit), it could potentially happen, yes. But I'd be willing to bet you're more likely to be hit on the golf course than in the air.

Answer 2

Yes it is possible, it can occur many ways. The lightning could hit the jet. The lightning could hit the cock pit and kill the pilots. The lightning could strike a motor. The lightning could make the power go out and crash the plane. Basically, if it is thundering. Don't go on a plane.

Answer 3

Possible but unlikely. But lightning could knock out navigation and communication equipment, making flying the plane difficult. The biggest danger to a plane in a thunderstorm is strong vertical air currents and wind gusts, making control of the plane difficult. The severe turbulence could even exceed the plane's structural limits and break it up. A sudden tailwind could reduce lift and the plane would fly into the ground. And glaze icing can reduce lift and freeze up control surfaces. In particular it's really dangerous to try to land a plane in a thunderstorm.

Answer 4

170 die as Russian plane is struck by lightning

Tom Parfitt in Moscow
Wednesday August 23, 2006
The Guardian

A Russian airliner that crashed in eastern Ukraine yesterday killing all 170 passengers and crew on board was probably struck by lightning as it encountered heavy turbulence, a preliminary investigation suggested last night. The Tu-154 was flying from the Black Sea resort of Anapa to St Petersburg when it went down in open countryside about 30 miles north of the city of Donetsk. More than a quarter of the aircraft's passengers were children.


Russia's transport ministry said bad weather had probably caused the crash on flight 612. "A report about heavy turbulence came at 15.37 Moscow time from the aircraft, which was at an altitude of 11,000 metres, and then the plane disappeared from radar screens," a spokesman told Interfax.
St Petersburg-based Pulkovo airlines told reporters that the crew issued a second distress signal from a lower altitude but air traffic controllers could not make out the sentence that followed.

Aviation experts said the aircraft could survive a lightning strike, but flight instruments may have been knocked out, disorienting the pilot. The crash was the third major aviation tragedy in Russia this year.

Witnesses said the plane plunged into the ground intact, suggesting there had not been an explosion on board. A large bang was heard in the nearby village of Sukha Balka followed by a series of smaller bangs.

At least 45 children were among the dead, according to the airline. Most passengers were thought to be Russian holidaymakers from St Petersburg returning home, although foreigners including at least one Dutch citizen were reportedly among the dead.

Andrei Tyutyunikov, a reporter with local newspaper Donetskiye Novosti, who arrived at the scene shortly after the crash, told the Guardian the aircraft had been destroyed. He said: "It's just in pieces. I can see one large chunk with the letters on it. Emergency officials are dragging fragments of bodies from the wreckage. There's no one left alive."

Television pictures showed firefighters dousing blackened hillside covered in debris. Thirty bodies were recovered by late afternoon. Rescuers prepared to comb the wreckage through the night but they did not expect to find any survivors.

Irina Andrianova, a spokeswoman for the Russian emergency situations ministry, said a preliminary investigation indicated a lightning strike had caused the disaster. A team of medics and psychologists was dispatched to Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg to help distraught relatives waiting for the flight. The Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko, cut short a holiday in Crimea to monitor the situation.

A 60-strong Russian emergency ministry team also flew from Rostov to help the rescue and clean-up effort. Relatives of the dead will be flown to the site today to identify bodies.

In July, a Sibir airlines Airbus A-310 crashed and burst into flames after veering off the runway in Irkutsk, killing 122 people. That accident was blamed on a malfunction in a thrust reverser. Two months earlier 113 people died when an Airbus A-320 belonging to Armenian airline Armavia crashed on its way from Yerevan to Sochi. The disaster was attributed to the pilot flying through bad weather.

The Tu-154 is known as the "flying cigar" because of its long fuselage and cramped cabin space. It is still one of the most commonly used planes in Russia.

"So far this crash is a mystery because the Tupolev is robust and every aircraft has a weather radar," said David Learmount of Flight International magazine. "The big question is: how the hell did the pilot get in the middle of a thunderstorm?"

Answer 5

It sure can, and that's why hurricanes and storms cause some crazy delays for planes since they would like to try and avoid the storm if at all possible.

But the force and temperature that lightning produces could very well take down a plane. The temperature could easily melt the side of the aircraft (at any size) and cause massive problems. It could also render all electronics aboard the aircraft useless including some motor/engine parts.

Answer 6

no an airplane is not connected to "ground" therefore the lightning would find a lesser path of resistance

Answer 7

a usuall charter plane would be flying to high but a small private plane could be hit but it would not be liek being hit with a rocket.

Answer 8

It can cause enough damage to a plane that it goes down, yes.

Answer 9

Weather does affect air traveling. Believe Me! The Ratio is very high.

Answer 10

It is possible, but not likely. Airplanes are made of metal, or of fiber with metal inserts, and the metal protects the innards from damage.