There is a very good picture in a British national newspaper today (12th May 2011) of an aircraft flying into Heathrow. It shows the plane being struck by lightning. The presenters on the BBC breakfast program stirred up possible fear by becoming very dramatic and speculating about the danger to the plane and passengers. If they had bothered to pay attention to their school physics lessons they would have been able to recall that in the 19th century Michael Faraday discovered that electricity travels around the OUTSIDE of a enclosed metal tructure. There is no danger to the occupants of a plane when it is hit by lighning.
More media drivel.
