Is this fake?

[Mike]

Just got this email about this Delta plane getting hit by lighting. Now, I know planes get hit and I've done some research on helicopters that get hit and they can get messed up by lighting, but like this?!
Any thoughts?

Here is the email letter:

OK… you're the pilot of a plane… it’s on auto-pilot and you're catching up on People magazine and having a cup of coffee… suddenly the loudest sound you will ever hear goes off just behind your left ear.  You're blinded by the flash… can't hear… all you can feel is something warm running down your leg… you immediately consider retirement. These are photos of an Atlantic Southeast Airlines/Delta Connection aircraft, after it suffered a lightning strike.

[TheSoccerMom]

I looked online (I was searching for a wreck anyway!), and found this:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/lightning.asp

Apparently it was a ground fire in the cockpit, with no pax on board, and happened shortly after they connected ground power.

I wish people would just quit making things up -- as if a burning airplane on the ground weren't exciting enough!!!!!!!   

 

[gibbo_335]

WOW!!!!! 

[Ragwing]

These pix have been making the email circuit last year.
Eventually, the guy who sent it as a joke was identifed.
This joke was circulating as we were working on the lightening strike protection designs on the B787.
I was not laughing.

NTSB Report http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20090303X74824
ASA Airlines flight 5533, a Bombardier CRJ-200, experienced a cockpit fire on the ground shortly after external power was applied to the airplane in preparation for flight. The captain and one flight attendant evacuated the airplane via an airstair without injuries. They were the only individuals on the airplane at the time. The fire department extinguished the fire after it had burned an approximate 18 inch hole through the left upper cockpit crown skin. The flight, intended to be conducted as Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121 scheduled service, was to be flown from Tallahassee Regional Airport (TLH), Tallahassee, Florida, to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia.

Urban Legend http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/lightning.asp
Accurate photographs; Inaccurate description

[Mike]

thanks for the info ragwing!

still kind of a scary situation I think.... i mean, your plane catching on fire after connecting to ground power..... 

[TheSoccerMom]

Anybody who laughs about fire + aircraft is just a f**king idiot.     

And being hit by lightning wasn't too funny, either...  though it did melt a piece of flap and blow chips of fibreglass off the nose cone, after a complete check, no worse damage was found.

It was truly "blind" flying for many seconds afterward, though.   

[The_Muppet]

...

And being hit by lightning wasn't too funny, either...  though it did melt a piece of flap and blow chips of fibreglass off the nose cone, after a complete check, no worse damage was found.

It was truly "blind" flying for many seconds afterward, though.   

Wait... What!?!? Really?!?! 

[Ragwing]

S Mom can count herself very lucky.
Our planes are not as updated for lightening strike protection as the commercial jets.

Lightning strikes are more common than one might think.
Statistics show that the commercial airlines average one hit per aircraft in the US per year or an average of once every 1500 flight hours.

The last commercial airline crash in the USA blamed on lightning was more than 40 years ago.
On December 8, 1962 lighting hit a Pan American Boeing 707 in a holding pattern over Elkton, Md.
The lightning caused a spark that ignited fuel vapor in a tank, causing an explosion that brought the plane down.

Commercial airplanes were upgraded following this accident.

[Baradium]

S Mom can count herself very lucky.
Our planes are not as updated for lightening strike protection as the commercial jets.

Lightning strikes are more common than one might think.
Statistics show that the commercial airlines average one hit per aircraft in the US per year or an average of once every 1500 flight hours.

The last commercial airline crash in the USA blamed on lightning was more than 40 years ago.
On December 8, 1962 lighting hit a Pan American Boeing 707 in a holding pattern over Elkton, Md.
The lightning caused a spark that ignited fuel vapor in a tank, causing an explosion that brought the plane down.

Commercial airplanes were upgraded following this accident.

I recall that accident is why airplanes have static wicks.    In that sense, your planes are updated as well.


I remember hearing about that ASA incident.   Apparently there was a decent amount of electrical arcing involved when it started.  It was weird and required a few things to go wrong at once as a number of safeguards didn't work.

ASA also had a rather interesting incident in a hanger in Alabama,  I haven't seen pictures of it but it did involve accidentally starting an airplane in a hanger withe the throttles at the firewall...  a result of not following procedures...