Flying into a lightning storm is not easy for everyone. You’re sitting in the aeroplane, sipping hot coffee from your plastic mug, thinking perhaps of your warm bed at home, and suddenly a high-intensity storm starts shaking your plane. You’ll have to be some kind of crazy Gryffindor to not have a moment of panic – what if lighting strikes your plane? What if these are the last seconds of your life before your safe cocoon in mid-flight is reduced to a pile of ash? This fear is so common, that it even has a name, i.e., Astraphobia, or the fear of being hit by lightning!
Well here’s a reassuring thought– your plane has probably already been struck by lightning, and you didn’t even know. Know why? Because when those dazzling bolts touch your plane, absolutely nothing happens.
Modern aeroplanes are designed to safeguard against a variety of dangers. An engineer is always at hand to ensure that the systems, equipment, and the fuel are completely safe in the event of a lightning strike. So what happens when the massive 30,000 amperes discharge hits the plane? It is dissipated along the aluminum covered exterior of the craft, without the least disturbance to the actual structure. In fact, no aerial disaster caused by lightning has occurred in the United States since 1967!