On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 00:51:08 GMT, Brian Whatcott
wrote:

Not strictly comparable to boat strikes are airliner strikes. The
usual result of these is a pin hole or two going in and leaving the
skin. That's aluminum skin planes. Glass planes need more careful
design.....
====================================

I was in a large commercial jet that got hit by lightening at around
20,000 feet. It was an awsome experience. After several seconds of
totally stunned silence, everyone started looking around to see if we
were still alive. It took the pilot several minutes to get on the PA
system to announce the obvious and reassure us that all was OK. We
didn't know if he had been doing safety checks or just cleaning
himself up.