In-Flight Shock: What It Looks Like When A Plane’s Struck By Lightning

In-Flight Shock: What It Looks Like When A Plane’s Struck By Lightning:
Article by Sid Lipsey published in Yahoo Travel
April 13, 2015

The above news article (click it and read) was very interesting and one that brings to mind my own "lightning strike."  Many people in this article were surprised that the plane didn't turn around and land, especially since it occurred shortly after taking off.  That would have probably been the prudent thing to do, but often after something like this happens, the only thing a flight crew has to rely on for a damage assessment after the strike, is cockpit indicators; instruments and flight control feel.  The questions a pilot asks are:
"Is the plane controllable, is it safe to fly?"  
"Are there any instrument indications telling me something is wrong?" 
"Is there a fire or an electrical issue?"
In this case, I can only assume that everything after the strike felt normal, though I don't fly a 757, it would seem to me that at least, the plane would have a different sound as a result of the hole in the nose.  Moreover, the article doesn't say at what altitude they were struck. Perhaps since they were accelerating or still in a climb, they didn't notice the difference when they got to cruise.  At a high altitude, in thinner air, the plane is much quieter and aerodynamic issues such as "a hole in the nose cone" are not as obvious. Most likely in the descent as they got into denser air, they noticed a different sound.  By then, landing at the destination was the only thing to do.  The nose cone, incidentally is a fiberglass or light weight material that houses the radar.  It only serves as a "fairing" much like those you see in front of  some motorcycles.  The hole in this nose cone would have created more aerodynamic drag, and their fuel consumption may have been a tad higher. but hardly enough to be noticeable.

I was flying a CRJ200 when I was struck by lightening.  I had diverted around a cell to the upwind side by over 50 nautical miles.  It was night and I was relying on my radar for the exact location of the thunder storm.  What I didn't see, nor had no way of exactly knowing (I knew it was a big one, hence my course alteration to avoid it) was that the cell topped well over 40,000 feet and into the upper layers of the atmosphere where the wind shifted almost 180 degrees.  
The storm's energy, but not its moisture was being blown off and down into my path as it reached the upper atmosphere where the opposite direction wind was. Because there was no moisture, there was no radar indication.

At night, unable to discern clouds ahead unless painted by radar, we flew right into this "tumbled down" energy and were rocked with some pretty good turbulence.  We also were hit by lightning.  Yes, it was very loud and very bright.  My instruments were good, the plane flew normally, I was about 200 miles from my destination airport and chose to continue on with no adverse instrument indications and the plane's controls were normal. The plane was safe and flyable after the strike, I made a PA announcement letting the passengers know what had happened and that they didn't have anything to worry about. 

Aircraft are designed to take lightning strikes.  Many people may not know this.  This is certainly something designers considered when these jets were made.

Upon reaching my destination and flying the approach, on short final, I received an indication that one of my sensors was faulty.  It was not a "critical to flight" sensor, and since I was landing anyway, I simply continued and landed.  I wrote up a maintenance form and advised maintenance via radio that the plane had been struck by lightning.  It wasn't until after the passengers de-planed and I got out to do a post flight that I noticed a large "burn ring" on my right winglet (the part of the wing the points up at the end, something becoming more common on aircraft these days).

It wasn't a hole, but the plane was grounded until the repairs were made.

I learned some lessons that day.  Mostly about weather avoidance, but I also gained more respect for the way modern aircraft are designed.  They are tough and made to take quite a bit, especially lightning.