Aluminum Body and Lightening
Aluminum wiring was band many years ago because it can cause house fires when arching. This is what happened when lightening hit an aluminum body Ford pickup. :E Clicky
Forum Discussion
am1958 wrote:
Many years ago in Belize a pilot and I were returning from tasking in the middle of the country in an RAF Puma helicopter. It was the rainy season and we found ourselves cornered by thunderstorms and in an area of the jungle where there were no landing sites so we pushed on through the weather. After landing I got out to do the After flight checks which included checking the rotor blades. There was a small "blister" about the size of a quarter on the underside of one of the blades so I got the ladder out to inspect it. There was an identical "blister" on the top side of the blade in the same place. I called over a senior tech and showed it to him. He immediately identified it as a lightning strike. Funny thing was neither the pilot nor myself had any idea it had happened...
It’s likely that wasn’t a typical cloud to cloud, or cloud to ground lightning strike. Helicopter triggered lightning strikes are a studied but not well understood phenomenon. The part of the helicopter struck is almost always the main or tail rotor blades. As you are probably aware, helicopters acquire a strong negative charge when they fly through air because of static charging. Strong enough that if you were to touch a hovering helicopter while standing on the ground, you could be seriously hurt or killed. I suspect the “strike” you experienced was induced when the helicopter you were flying flew into a positively charged area around a storm cloud. It was probably of lower intensity than a typical cloud to cloud or cloud to ground lightning strike, but strong enough to cause the damage you found.
:):)
