From: "Skip Slater" <skipslater@earthlink.net>
To: <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Subject: IV-P Lightning Strike
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 21:06:44 -0800
Message-ID: <NDBBJKBFGKPDOJHEAJMLGEFKCEAA.skipslater@earthlink.net>
Importance: Normal
In-Reply-To: <3A966CD4.C7D071F6@regandesigns.com>
Reply-To: lancair.list@olsusa.com
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   Today while I was in the shop working on my ES, a recently completed IV-P
returned from a trip to New Orleans after surviving a lightning strike over
Texas in IFR conditions at 16,000' Wednesday night.  Since the owner isn't
on the LML, I thought I'd pass along what details I learned from talking to
him and his passenger.
   There was a good bit of damage visible from the outside of the plane.
The lightning path went first through a propeller blade (Hartzell) where it
left a small nick in the tip.  It then left scorch marks on the right wing,
entering on the leading edge about a foot outboard of the joint at the root
and exiting between the wing and flap on the trailing edge.  (The wing path
transited the inboard fuel bay location).  It then entered the leading edge
of the right side of the horizontal stab and channeled through the vertical
stabilizer and hinges to the rudder, where most of the damage was.  The
entire lower part of the rudder below the bottom hinge was little more than
core material and carbon fiber blowing in the breeze.  All of the primer and
resin was gone from the area and it was seriously burned.  The rudder's
trailing edge was cracked or split from top to bottom and there were scorch
marks coming out of the seams where the trim servo is mounted on the rudder.
One can only imagine the pressure that built up in the tail surfaces or how
hot the flash was in there.  I was somewhat surprised that the owner chose
to fly it back to San Diego in this condition, but he did.  Fortunately for
him, the plane's still in primer, so it didn't ruin a new paint job.  The
plane did NOT have static wicks, which I feel was a significant contributing
factor.
   The pilot told me that the weather enroute had worsened to the point that
he'd just about decided to reverse course and look for a place to land for
the night when the strike occurred.  He has a Strikefinder installed, but
due to where he located the antenna (inside the fuselage), he hadn't gotten
it working yet and planned to move the antenna outside.  When the strike
hit, he lost all panel lighting and several instruments, including the flux
valve for his HSI heading.  His wet compass hadn't been calibrated yet, so
he had no confidence in his heading.  He said there was a lot of burned wire
smell in the cockpit, but no fire.  He had a flashlight in his lap at the
time and was able to use it to illuminate the panel.  His pitot static
instruments were OK (just dark), his vacuum powered gyro was OK (who knows
if an electric horizon would have still worked?) and his Garmin 430 and
Avidyne moving map worked, so he was able to communicate and know his
position.  The VOR bearings the 430 gave him were based on his drifting
heading, so they were not usable for navgation.  He ended up getting guided
back to Midland by ATC and was given a no gyro approach to MAF, breaking out
at VOR approach minimums at 300'.  Thankfully, his radar altimeter was
working throughout the approach.  He was greeted by a host of emergency
vehicles, but had no further problems.  Today, with better weather, he flew
home VFR.
   While I'm sure many of you probably have strong opinions about what took
place (I know I do), I think the biggest surprise to me is that these guys
weren't killed last night.  The lessons learned here are a mile long and I'm
only relaying this as food for thought among the readers.  Put yourselves in
this situation and ask yourself if you're prepared to deal with it.  I think
we can all agree this plane shouldn't have been where it was, but the owner
seems to have done a credible job getting it back to terra firma.  Deciding
to fly back to California without a thorough inspection was probably not a
phi beta kappa move, but he made it.
   Damage assessment begins tomorrow.  I'll follow up with any new
information I get once I hear anything.
   Skip Slater
   50%+ IO-540 ES


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