Tropical Lightning Damage on Commercial Aircraft

Commercial flights are growing rapidly in various countries, including Indonesia, because they are fast and can reach various regions, even areas that far away or isolated. However, minor failures in the aviation often result in fatal accidents. Indonesia as an archipelago in the tropics has great Cumulonimbus cloud forming potential. This research characterizes weather conditions that lead to tropical lightning, summarizes the effects of lightning on commercial aircraft, and identifies methods of mitigating tropical lightning strikes on commercial aircraft. By analyzing lightning strike data on commercial aircraft, supplemented with various atmospheric data, this research succeeded in describing the characteristics of tropical lightning such as the wide and high tower of Cumulonimbus clouds that cause a lot of lightning strikes to commercial aircraft in tropical regions, as well as the correlation of lightning strikes on commercial aircraft with the lightning strikes density at the airport. Flights from / to Soekarno Hatta International Airport (CGK) are safest from lightning strikes in July and August, while most dangerous in February and November. At the airport, the most of lightning strikes occur at 13.00-19.00 WIB. In addition, descending is a flight phase that is quite vulnerable to lightning strikes damage, thus commercial aircraft has been equipped with electric field measuring device. To improve flight safety in the tropics, thunderstorm detection systems and lightning strike density maps are needed to make lightning-free flight routes, also to increase pilot awareness towards danger of lightning strikes on the flight route. A Lightning Detection System (LDS) can be used by Air Traffic Controllers to deliver information to the pilot to make the informed decisions for safe landing and take off.