Originally Posted by
alex67500
I have a question following BA182 last Monday. We received a text around 4pm telling us the flight would be delayed 2hrs (so 2:15am instead of 0:15). The Captain said the plane was hit by lightning when flying out of LHR on its way over to JFK and that meant some standard maintenance had to be performed.
What kinds of checks are performed in this case? It's pretty obvious that planes get hit by lightning all the time, and it was safe enough to carry on flying over the Atlantic, so I'm wondering if electrics have to be replaced / checked etc. Thanks.
The aircraft manual details a whole series of inspections that need to be performed. These vary from checks of electrical equipment, radios, navigation equipment etc to a visual check of the external fuselage. Many of the equipment checks can actually be performed by the flight crew in flight after the suspected lightning strike. This substantially speeds up the inspection process. Any visible damage on the fuselage is assessed against limits specified in the structural repair manual. In most situations the aircraft can fly straight away without the need for any repair work to be performed. In the case of the B787 a temporary repair using aluminium (speed) tape is often made. This is to protect the exposed carbon fuselage from UV light rather than to hold anything together. More serious lightning strikes can result in the need to replace rivets or perform skin repairs but these are rarer situations.