Moscow plane fire: reports claim jet was struck by lightning

[brooklynite]

Source: The Guardian

Russian authorities have said the deadly fire onboard an Aeroflot passenger jet was probably caused by pilot error, a technical malfunction or “adverse weather conditions”, apparently referring to reports that lightning struck the plane after takeoff.

Emergency workers said on Monday they had removed 41 bodies from the scorched tail section of the Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet 100, confirming Sunday’s fire as Russia’s deadliest aviation accident in several years.

...snip...

Crew members said it was hit by hail while flying through clouds near Sheremetyevo airport, before apparently being struck by lightning.

“A bright flash and a clap,” the pilot Denis Yevdokimov said, describing the alleged lightning strike. The plane lost all communications and its electronic flight system failed, he said.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/06/moscow-plane-fire-reports-claim-jet-struck-lightning

[dewsgirl]

1. It sucks we can't believe anything they say.

Even more alarming, our government is following their playbook, so if it happened here we couldn't believe it either.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. No collision! NT

[The_jackalope]

5. Nice one!

[paleotn]

19. Oohhhh!!!

[Ghost Dog]

3. Electronic flight systems/controls & comms failed.

So that was an entirely manual, almost blind landing.

I see no dishonesty there, unlike at Boeing.

[getagrip_already]

4. check the passenger list....

Someone likely wasn't on putins nice list.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. If Putin or his henchmen were busy

crashing all planes that had someone he didn't like on board, well, really?

Or that he can somehow control a lightning strike, or persuade the pilots to make some fatal error.

I mean, give it a little thought.

[Jedi Guy]

15. Unfortunately people sometimes refer to Putin as if he were an evil mastermind Bond villain.

He's a dangerous and determined adversary, it's true, but he's not a super-genius and he's hardly omniscient or infallible. He's an ex-KGB thug who's salty that the Soviet Union lost the Cold War, and he has dreams of resurrecting a new one from the ashes.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. I believe it. The same thing happened to my homework, a book report in grade 6.

Fuggin' lightning.

[BruceWane]

8. Normal occurance

Planes get struck by lightning all the time. They're built to handle it as an essential part of design and construction.

The last time lightning took down a plane was 1967.

What happens when lightning strikes a plane?

[Bengus81]

10. Just getting ready to post the same thing....

In fact biz jets also have lighting arrestors along with the normal static electricity wicks. That excuse is worse than Boeing BS.

[dalton99a]

21. Yep

[LiberalArkie]

9. They got hit by lightning and took out the radios

They had a full load of fuel and could not dump it.
This caused the plane to land hard and bounce and then came down on the tail and ruptured the tanks and ignited the fuel from the sparks of the tail landing.

[Blue_Tires]

11. If that really happened then there's no way in hell that airframe

ever would have gotten an airworthiness certificate...

Interesting that there's no universal call to ground the SSJ...

[SunSeeker]

18. Indeed. nt

[jmowreader]

12. Put me down for pilot error

I posted the CNN video of the full landing last night in LBN. That plane hit the ground, bounced up about twenty feet, and slammed back down so hard it breached the fuel tanks.

[SunSeeker]

13. Planes are built to take lightning strikes. They're not built to survive drunk pilots, however. nt

Last edited Mon May 6, 2019, 08:11 PM - Edit history (1)

[Dave Starsky]

14. Isn't an airplane like a "Faraday cage"?

I'm reaching way back into my high school physics, but I was told that if you were completely surrounded by conductive metal, that the rush of electrons from a lightning strike would seek the skin of your conductive enclosure and follow it all the way to ground--which is generally Earth, the place with the least electrons. The electrons would avoid you in your enclosure.

I was told this is why you stay in your car during a bad lightning storm, and you don't touch anything metal. Your car acts as a Faraday cage, and the rubber tires shield you from ground.

I welcome any physics teachers or engineers who can reeeducate me on this subject. It's important.

[Jedi Guy]

16. That's pretty much it, yep.

I saw a gif on Imgur the other day of a lightning strike on a plane that was taxiing. It hit just forward of the tail section, and you could see it in one of the wheels as it grounded. No one on the plane was injured, and the plane wasn't even damaged, as I recall.

[SunSeeker]

17. Yup.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161004-why-lightning-strikes-dont-harm-the-planes-we-fly-in

[paleotn]

20. You know.....

there's a reason even our FAA won't clear the Sukhoi Super 100 to fly our friendly skys.