Why aren’t planes affected by lightning if they are made of conductive metals?

446 views

Why aren’t planes affected by lightning if they are made of conductive metals?

In: 0

18 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

First of all, airplanes ARE affected by lightning:
https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=3994564&page=1

However, as others have pointed out, the metal skin of the plane acts as a Faraday cage – the lightning bolt travels along outer surface, leaving people and things inside the plane (mostly) unharmed.

Pilots are VERY careful about avoiding thunderstorms. Not only is there a risk of lightning but a thundercloud can contain hail and strong up/down-drafts, both of which are dangerous in themselves. Best case is that passengers will be extremely uncomfortable, worst case is [severe damage to the aircraft](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/06/05/scariest-flight-of-my-life-hail-smashes-nose-of-plane-that-flew-into-towering-storm/) with a risk of total loss of the aircraft and everyone on board.

You are viewing 1 out of 18 answers, click here to view all answers.