What happens to the plane when lightning strikes?
From a pilot, usually nothing. Since the aircraft is not touching earth ground then the lightning usually passes harmlessly around it (In an aluminum-skinned aircraft). This is why it is safer to be in a car during a lightning storm than standing on the ground. The rubber of the car tires insulates the metal car body from the electrical strike. Composite aircraft that are IFR certified have metal strips running through the carbon fiber (or fiberglass) to conduct a lightning strike away from any critical areas. Lightning is a strange thing. It can stun the guy next to you and kill the one next to him so you can never tell. From my research there has only been one accident directly resulting from a lightning strike and that was on an aircraft holding in bad weather over (NY?) in the 1960s. Lighting hit that aircraft and ignited vapors from a fuel vent causing the wing to explode. The actual strike was witnessed by several other flight crews and passengers from other aircraft in the holdi
