From Colombo, Sri Lankan Airlines‘ A330 was on a routine long-distance flight to Sydney when it was reported that the aircraft had been struck by lightning approximately 45 minutes after takeoff. After hearing an extremely loud bang (as well as seeing an extremely bright flash), passengers onboard could only watch as the left engine was damaged. The flight crew made their way back to Bandaranaike International Airport, where the aircraft landed safely. Although it could have easily resulted in a much worse incident, this particular flight serves as a reminder of how quickly aviation personnel can turn alarm into controlled behaviour.
In addition to the sound and flash (both of which were extremely loud and bright), this event is significant, as modern-day airliners have been designed to survive these types of strikes. In other words, aircraft are built including lightning protection requirements designed specifically to prevent damage occurring to critical electrical and electronic components resulting from being hit by lightning, and due to certification requirements, the aircraft have to be able to safely operate after having been struck by lightning. According to Airbus, there is an average of one lightning strike per year per aircraft during operation, but aircraft can typically survive the strike without damage because the structure of the aircraft directs electrical energy throughout the airframe rather than through the cabin when struck by lightning.
As a result of this incident, the return of the Sri Lankan Airbus should be seen as significant as the lightning strike itself. In many instances, passengers may not even know how near they were to experiencing a serious incident because the aircraft itself serves as a barrier. The majority of the electrical charge flows externally along the aircraft’s skin, while the aircraft has various electrical discharges, like static discharges, to relieve excess energy. Visible damage, including to the engines, raises valid concerns that speculation cannot resolve.
What distinguishes this event from typically only having a cosmetic lightning scar on an airframe is that the left engine sustained damage as a result of this event – a finding that warrants additional engineering review. Aviation safety investigations exist to ensure that the true cause is identified and that any coexisting or contributing event(s) (such as encountering a hail event, ingesting debris, etc.) can be understood prior to the completion of this investigation. Until such time as this investigation is finished, it is reasonable to conclude that the crew acted appropriately and that the aircraft arrived home with no damage.
When lightning strikes, it can sound horrifying to the passenger on board an aircraft, but, in fact, it is an everyday enemy to aeronautical engineers, and they have researched it for many years and developed many protective systems to compensate for the chance of lightning hitting an aeroplane. Each time a lightning strike occurs, it reinforces to the public that safety in aviation is not a gamble but rather a result of well-defined engineering, design, discipline, and skilful split-second decision-making by experienced professional personnel. In this case, though the Sri Lankan Airlines incident could have been a dramatic headline, it was fortunately just a safe but quiet event, reinforcing one of the most important lessons in aviation: resilience is designed into aircraft well before the thunderstorm begins.
