Why does lightning do not affect aircraft while flying?

Halldor Gudmundsson just saw a giant lightning near the office, northwest of Keflavik International Airport in Iceland. Gudmundsson quickly turned on the phone camera app and began to return to that moment, hoping to capture images of bright crevices in the sky of the city. But suddenly a plane took off from the airport into his frame and immediately the plane was struck by a bolt of lightning.

However, strangely, the plane continued to fly and went through the rain. " It was a very interesting but also a bit scary sight " - Gudmundsson, who provided the special picture below, said.

Why does lightning do not affect aircraft while flying? Picture 1

The Wow Air flight took off from Iceland's capital Reykjavik to Paris on October 3 safely landed and the airline confirmed to the BBC that the plane was not damaged. According to a spokesman, it is normal for aircraft to be struck by lightning . But how can they survive the billions of joules of power, equivalent to a quarter of a ton of TNT?

" The outer shell of the cabin and the interior of the aircraft are designed to conduct electricity but also work to isolate the current with the crew, passengers and electronic devices inside " - Chris Hammond, a retired pilot and member of the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) said.

" There's a metal net inside the plane, a fine wire mesh and that's how electricity is moved ," he said.

In addition, electrical grids and connections to material storage compartments have many external shielding layers to protect them from the risk of electrical shock due to external impacts. All of these mechanisms are thoroughly tested before the aircraft is put into operation - the process involves creating artificial lightning streams that affect the shell and interior components of the aircraft.

Hammond said: "The image Gudmundsson took was an example of how things still work normally. Lightning seems to have hit the plane headers and then came out by tail and part. Like a flying Faraday, everything inside is protected . "

However, a lightning bolt is easily detected by passengers on the plane. For example, passengers on two flights struck by lightning on the western airspace of London in April said they had heard a loud crash.

Years ago, airplanes were not fully protected against thunder. Hammond remembered one time he drove an old plane, while waiting to land in San Francisco. Suddenly, his plane was hit by a very strong lightning.

" All screens stop working ," Hammond said.

But luckily, the plane has been equipped with devices with similar functions. After that, the plane could land safely after the computer system gradually returned to operation.