I imagine they saw everyone's skeletons for a moment!

The plane's metal skin acts as a ferriday(sp?) cage. The people on the inside are safe because of this. I would think that the lightning strike would be very loud for the people inside the plane.

A brain teaser for everyone: What would the people on the inside of the plane hear if the plane were traveling faster then the speed of sound?

The Photos are very cool!

Thanks for posting them!

EZSPARKY Cool screenname!

Ezsparky, would the sound be an echo, a wild guess.

wow! that's absolutely amazing. i couldn't imagine what that experience must have been like.

Wow, this is one of the better animated GIFs I've seen in awhile.

Flying back from Jacksonville to Pensacola in an A4 one day I got hit by lightening, lost most of my electronics, went inverted and instantly lost 15,000 feet. And center wouldn't talk to me!

That's scary!

My husband flew planes for 25 years and was hit numerous times in B-52s and E-3s and E-4s by lightening. In fact they started calling him Lightening Bob. Most of the time they didn't even know they'd been hit until they landed and a crew chief would point out the mark on the plane.

I neglected to state that the electromagnetic pulse from the lightning could effect the electronics of the plane which in turn could cause problems. Even if this takes place, the people inside are still protected by the ferriday(sp) cage from the direct power of the lightning.

vampy2 - good guess but no they would not hear an echo.

A 'Faraday Cage', is named after Michael Faraday an English physicist and chemist who observed the phenomena in 1836.
What would the passengers have heard if the plane was going faster than the speed of sound ?
Screaming.

pokkets- Thanks for the spelling! I tried to find it on the web dictionary... I guess I was spelling it too poorly.

"Screaming" thats was great!

Having received a few strikes on aircraft during my previous life, my experience was that no discernible noise accompanied the strikes. A large hair-lifting, but otherwise harmless, electrostatic "fuzz-ball" moved from the front of the A/C down the aisles to the back, leaving exit holes in the rudder edge.

The cockpit screens were covered with Saint Elmo's Fire prior to and after the strike.

Also, no problems with Nav or other equipment.

FCLIP - That must have been cool looking. How fast were you going during these strikes? Did you ever have problems with the avionics?

oh sorry I should have read your post more carefully.

EZSPARKY: they would hear normal engine noise because the sound travels faster in metal that is around the cabin.