[777ER]

Originally Posted by NYBMW335

^^ If I am ever in the same flight as you and I hear you say OH SHIT, I know I am screwed. LOL

I am amazed by airplanes, and I love flying. But there have been times where I just wanted to get off that plane. A couple of those OH SHIT moments. Dropping a couple hundred feet for no freaking reason, or a loud bang.. And then the Captain comes on saying we are having some turbulence/technical difficulties please fasten your seat belts. That's when I just hold on tight to my chair. LOL.

There was one time I was flying to Portugal and I think we got hit by lightning, I heard the engines shut off (or idle) and then we started dropping and only after a couple secs we heard the engines again. Really bad storm and there was lightning everywhere.

Last time I had to reset the a/c electrical system after performing a RTS on the FCND msg and I was late to the a/c to do contract work due to being busy working on the mainline a/c and manpower was low on that day...
Anyways after I powered it down, wait 5 mins, repowered it and everything looks good, I signed off the logbook and walked towards the door, a pax got up and told the captain he wants off the plane and thinks there is something wrong with it.
Captain took him into the jetway with me and told the pax "I assure you the aircraft is safe and we will get there, he has checked it out and all it needed after doing testing was to reset the electrical power to confirm it does not return, however due to the additional delay we're gonna run into by letting you off, I can't let you off the aircraft."
He said "ok alright I'll go back in"

Plane was fine, no problems at all.

As for lighting strikes, they're designed to take it and continue flying. You're safer in a plane during lighting strikes because it acts as a metal cage...lighting strikes hit the plane, travels through the whole plane and exits it.
Only damage I see most of the time is burnt randome, elevator stab skin, composite flaps trailing edges. That's it.

Most lighting strikes hits the nose section or the wingtip. There is always a entry and exit point...exit points are somewhere on the tail and can be tell by a burnt spot.
All systems work normal and they don't go out as long they're properly bonded to the airframe. As for the engines, they don't spool down or flame out during a lighting strike.

Maybe it's the noise from the lighting right after it strikes the a/c?


There was a expermit done to test lighting strikes:
Two beacon lights was mounted and one had it's lens bonded to the structure, the other has no bonding.

Simulated lighting was struck at it...the one without the bonding just exploded into million little pieces.

The one with the lens bonded to the structure just has a tiny burn spot and it kept on flashing with no damage.

As for the 787 being composite, a metal mesh and aluminum spray had to be done in some layers for lighting protection so the currents can travel throughout the aircraft and back out into the air.
Had it not have that done, the composite would splinter into many little pieces and suffer damage.

[bmstyle71]

Originally Posted by NYBMW335

Dropping a couple hundred feet for no freaking reason

A couple of hundred feet is pretty extreme. In most turbulence situations its general bumps and thermals. If you drop couple of a hundred feet quickly, you will know lol.

[E90SLAM]

Originally Posted by bmstyle71

A couple of hundred feet is pretty extreme. In most turbulence situations its general bumps and thermals. If you drop couple of a hundred feet quickly, you will know lol.

Sounds like Clear air turbulence???

[bmstyle71]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

Sounds like Clear air turbulence???

Yeah CAT could be it....never told us how high they were.