Originally Posted by
planemechanic
As has been said, lightning hits airplanes every single day. The most likely impact to the airplane is a small, about the size of a #2 pencil lead, burn mark on the aircraft skin. It is usually dealt with by a minor blending out of the damage. Sometimes you have to drill it out and put a small aluminum rivet in the hole to seal it up.
It's more of a maintenance annoyance than an inflight safety issue.
This would be the worst damage experienced.. most of the time lightning strikes to no effect or repair.. simply the plane is equipped and engineered to handle lightning strikes..