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Did Lightning Bring Down Flight 447?
Fabrice Coffrini, AFP / Getty Images
The 228 people on an Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic this morning are now presumed dead—possibly the victim of a lightning strike. Aviation expert Clive Irving on why that’s the most troubling theory of all.
Reports that before it disappeared, Air France Flight 447 encountered a severe electrical storm should not in themselves be ominous. These storms are a familiar hazard. In a plane with the exemplary safety record of the Airbus A330, lightning strikes should not be critical.
However, safety experts will be looking at one slender clue. Around 50 minutes after making its last contact with Brazilian radar, the Airbus sent an automated message that it had an “electrical circuit malfunction.” The airplane was relatively young: It went into service in April 2005. To save maintenance time on the ground, airliners of this generation have vigilant computer monitoring of all systems. Any faults are automatically reported to their destination so that engineers are ready to check them on landing.
In this case, that was the last communication sent. After that, silence.
No airline crash has been caused by lightning in more than 40 years. And before this, no passenger has ever been lost on an Airbus A330. And so if in some way Flight 447 became a victim of an unsuspected vulnerability to electrical storms, this will present investigators with a challenge unlike any before. The hope must be that since the flight path over the Atlantic is known, searchers can find floating wreckage that will provide an answer.
There is another major issue raised by this mystery.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which is about to make its first flight, is the first airliner to be built entirely of composite materials, based on carbon-fiber, not metal. A metal airframe is designed to work as its own lightning conductor. Lightning bolts are dispersed with little more than a flash and a bang.
The 787, however, has no similar capacity to deal with lightning strikes through its major structures. How Boeing has solved this problem is a trade secret, although it is known that wire mesh has been embedded in the composites forming the fuselage, and that metal foils are used in other vulnerable parts of the airframe.
For this reason, the FAA subjected the 787 to a “special condition” examination before it was certified to make its first test flight, due later this month. Because no airliner has ever been built this way before, the 787’s ability to demonstrate a level of lightning protection at least equal to a conventional all-metal airplane is crucial.
The fate of Air France Flight 447 may well, therefore, have urgent implications for both Airbus and Boeing.
Xtra Insight: Read 7 theories on what happened to Flight 447
Clive Irving is senior consulting editor of Conde Nast Traveler.
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Not to sound curt but did you read the whole article? The last paragraph is all about the new construction and whether this will stand up to a lightning strike. The plane is made of carbon fiber instead of the usual material.
The weather in the flight path of Air France's 447 over Cape Verde is known for producing a high incidence of electrical, as opposed to less lethal, thunderstorms. These electrical storms occur at altitudes ranges from 35,000 to 50,000 ft. While the cause of the crash is open to conjecture at this point, this weather condition will be the focus of intense scientific speculation. In 1996, TWA flight from JFK to Paris exploded over Long Island. One of the initial theories was the craft was brought down by lightning. It turned out to a nitrogen switch in the fuel tanks.
As a meteorologist, I'd like to txplain that the idea that lightning caused the crash is very unlikely. Most people don't realize that most storms over the ocean have no lightning associated with them. The dust particles and lack of friction on the surface (ocean) means lightning is VERY RARE, especially away from coastal areas.
A map of global lightning frequency measured by satellites can be seen at:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/HRFC_AnnualFlashRate _0.5.png
The dark gray and purple areas between South America and Africa indicate regions of virtually no lightning activity.
This is alarming to me... for no other reason then I was on an Air France flight yesterday coming home from Paris. (Boeing 777)
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Again scough.what is wrong with you?
There's so much about this tragedy that leaves more questions.
Starting with why was this reported so late publically? What happened during the hours from the time air traffic controllers knew the aircraft was in trouble, and Air France.
No, aircraft don't normally crash from lightening. Then again, how many fly by wire aircraft have gone through 50,000 foot high major thunderstorms with intense winds?
Also, AF447 had sophisticated weather equipment on board. Why didn't the crew decide to go around the storms and possibly divert if it was going to not have enough fuel to make the trip.
So many questions and I really wonder if we're going to get answers. There's a great chance that it's lying 5000 meters below the sea, especially the black boxes.
This crash could have ramifications for the fly-by-wire aircraft.
While fly-by-wire has it's own set of strengths and weaknesses and so do the old "direct" control systems with mechanical linkages and cables which are subject to their own set of vulnurablities. On balance the newer systems are safer and more reliable. However, like any significant changes in technology, it sometimes takes a great deal of operational time to discover where all the Archilles Heels of any new system are.
Flying through a thunderstorm is extremely dangerous. I would put structural failure high on my list of possible causes.
I'll second that. When you take into account that it also lost cabin pressure, a structural failure is much more likely.
Just to confirm, this is the first A330 crash resulting in fatalities?
Another theory, is it could have hit another plane, possibly one of those drug carrier small planes, and such a plane wouldn't be reported if it went down, that would explain one seat and one life jacket floating.
exploora, this is why there is always so much misinformation after an airline crash.
The Airbus was flying at cruise altitude, over 30,000 feet. I don't even know this is an area of drug smuggling. But aircraft carrying drugs are rarely jets. They are usually either piston driven or sometimes turbo-prop driven light aircraft flying at far lower altitudes, sometimes skimming the surface to avoid radar detection.
I'm sure jets have been known to smuggle drugs. But, any aircraft flying above 18,000 feet has to file a flight plan. To not do so would be to bring unwanted attention to itself. Except for cases where drugs are smuggled aboard an airliner, jets are not ideal drug planes if the aircraft is to cross international borders.
The Boeing 787 "is the first airliner to be built entirely of composite materials." Incorrect. Its makeup will be around half composite and half metal.
Clive the expert is nothing of the sort. More rampant speculation here. No airplane has ever been brought down by lightening, but now Clive is postulating that that is precisely what happened to AF 447.
Just let the real experts figure this one out after they get more information.
Thank you.
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