Does lightning and thunder affect air planes when they pass through them?

Answer 1

if they were to be shocked by lightning, then yeh!

Answer 2

Lightning usually does not damage planes if they are struck. The hull of the plane is entirely conductive, effectively acting as a giant faraday cage, protecting the avionics equipment and passengers inside from both the enormous current, and the associated electromagnetic pulse. The shockwave due to the extreme proximity of the thunder can cause hearing damage to passengers, however.

Commercial airplanes get struck on average once per year (thats once per year per plane, and there are about 20 million commercial planes currently in operation), and the last catastrophic lightning strike was in 1967, and was due primarily to a ruptured fuel tank catching fire.

To those of you claiming that the plane will plummet from the sky in a ball of flames, stop scaring people and get your facts straight.

Answer 3

Lightening! yes can cause serious damage to the aeroplanes but thunder no. How the lightening happens?when C.B. clouds charged with +ve and the -ve charges come in close to each other the +ve charge jumps to the -ve clouds. This high intencity carge of thousands of volts appear in the form of lightening. The aeroplane passing through this is subjected to very high voltage flow on the aeroplane top and the bottom surface. The aeroplane body is made out of metal sheet and all the parts of the aeroplane is connected together with the help of copper pig tails so that the complete aeroplane body is having zero resistance. Permissible range is 0.05 ohms. If this is high or broken then the high charge will jump from one panel to the other and this jumping of spark is the one which will cause the aeroplane to catch fire. There are pig tail at the ends of flaps, rudder, aelerons which will discharge the static charge to the atmosphere. This is very dangerous and every pilot is trained not to enter the C.B. clouds. Weather forcast is very essential for the pilots and the have to go through the Met briefing before flight.

Answer 4

people should get their facts straight. some of them anyway

dont you think engineers would have thought of the possibility that lightning might strike the expensive and time consuming aircraft they are building?
it would only take a one, or maybe a couple of struck planes to get people to make them safer.

Some previous comments are correct, to my understanding, the fuselage does act like a faraday cage, and conducts almost perfectly, but not through to the avionics. the current would flow around the fuselage and be dispersed, it would not conduct into the plane, igniting the fuel and destroying the plane. Maybe old types of planes, or smaller single engine planes that cant absorb it.
Also, as mentioned, most planes travel at a ceiling above cloud level, avoiding the chance almost entirely.

Answer 5

No, lightning does not affect coz for that earthing is required. Thunder does affect by creating haphazard air pockets by which the airplane go through violent jerking and experience turbulence.

Answer 6

Most of the facts are covered in the various answers. Planes can be tested by simulating lightning, by generating high voltage, in a laboratory. I am not aware about how they test big commercial planes but small planes are kept in a cage and are subjected to high voltage as precribed by the standards.
Madan S.

Answer 7

Electrical circuitry and fuel tanks inside the aircraft are insulated from contact with the hull which will conduct the electricity. The lightning continues to the earth, then it bounces back and can cause serious structural damage at the point of entry.

Answer 8

If struck by it, lightning can destroy electrical equipment in an aircraft. Thunder is going to cause turbulence from the shock wave it generates.

Answer 9

Almost all flights are far above clouds. While taking off and while landing ,pilots choose a place and time that is not raining and so there are no lightenings and thunders.

Answer 10

Thunder is basically just noisy.

Lightning can do serious damage to the plane.

Answer 11

They become enlightened for a moment
but the subsequent reflection is shortlived.