Baumblog EST 1968 - A blog for the Baumbachs who originated in Syracuse, NY

What do you make of it? Requirement--try not to look at others' comments until you've come up with your response first. I'm doing an "experiment" of sorts.

Marc said about 2 hours later

Planes typically have a lightning rod no? Seems strange to have received such a strike. But then again, they're a big hunk of metal, so it doesn't surprise me that it may have hit another part. I'm no lightning strike observer either, but this looks like a fire did most of the damage. The burn marks look like they may have been going along with the wind, which would seem to indicate it wasn't just an instantaneous thing.

Geoff said 1 day later

asteroid.
GJ said 1 day later

OK, entries are closed.

Here's what actually happened: the plane had a cockpit fire on the ground, prior to takeoff. The plane was evacuated safely.

Now, me being a dude with an electrical engineering degree and a physics degree, I could tell you right away that this wasn't lightning. Planes get hit with lightning all the time--each plane likely gets hit at least once a year, if not more. Because they are made of aluminum, the lightning's electricity simply conducts around the outside of the plane. Now, we have lost a plane due to a strike over 40 years ago--because it caused a spark in the fuel tank, and kaboom. Planes were changed after this incident to ensure that fuel vapor is isolated so that a spark cannot set it off like this today.

So, right away, seeing the penetration of the hull said, nope, not lightning.

But, if you didn't have a background in electrical science, you might have to take this at face value. Marc did a pretty good job here, identifying fire as the agent of damage. Noting the burn marks was a good guess too--but of course, if the plane suffered this kind of intense fire in the cockpit during flight, it never would have landed. My guess is the prevailing wind during that day is responsible for the smoke pattern seen.

Geoff's guess of asteroid is, well, pretty bad--but then again, if you get your science from movies like Armageddon, you might come up with asteroid as the cause. :)

However, given the way this page is written, and the fact that the pictures don't look that different from what a tree looks like after being hit by lightning, I'm betting a majority of people viewing that page took that story as is. Marc's analysis was pretty good, from skeptical point of view. Good jorb!
Steve said 1 day later

I call BS.

"Lightning does hit airplanes and when it does it can damage the electronic equipment needed to fly the plane. Lightning research done during the 1980s by NASA had an F-106B jet fly into1,400 thunderstorms and lightning hit it over 700 times. The lightning did not damage the airplane but scientists found out that it could damage electronic systems on the plane. This led to requirements that all aircraft electrical and electronic systems have built-in lightning protection."

I would bet that if this was really a lightning strike, it happened when the plane was on the ground and was connected to a passenger loading/unloading tunnel.
Steve said 1 day later

Ok, and since I waited to read comments until after I responded, there's my logical response. Look it up. And I found some cool lightning strike videos along the way...

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page2173.html?theme=light

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=036hpBvjoQw

And my source of information:

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/2003FF/lightning/flight.html
GJ said 1 day later

You know, you had me worried with link #1...coast to coast AM is a hotbed of aliens and conspiracies.

GJ said 3 minutes later

I think this is what Marc was referring to as skeptics being mocking. And this is really, really funny if you're familiar with that goofball doctor who thinks water molecules retain memory and all of the fun details about the "science" of homeopathy.

Marc said 19 minutes later

I can still enjoy a good piece of humor. This one is good. :) It's when a skeptic comes off as trying to be serious and they mock in the process that problems occur. Good 'ol bashing is always fun too, as there's usually some creative things that come out of it.

Steve said 1 day later

Comment deleted on 4/9/2009 at 5:54PM