The Czar hopes that there were some survivors of AF447, and was particularly saddened to learn there was an infant on board.

In reading the subsequent we-are-out-of-news chatter on the web, the Czar read an article there on how dangerous lightning is to an aircraft.

The author states “A strike typically starts at a wingtip, nose or tail and courses through the aircraft’s skin, which is often made of aluminum—a good conductor.”

This is not quite correct (and in full fairness, the author amends that comment correctly later in the article). Because news agencies tend to all parrot one another, readers may spot this comment again elsewhere, and eventually some pundit will wonder why we build aircraft out of highly-conductive aluminum.

Here is the reality: aluminum wires make good conductors. Copper conductors are safer, overall, and you no longer find many houses wired with aluminum wire. A chunk of airborne aluminum (i.e., an aircraft) is not a good conductor because it cannot direct electrons anywhere. A wire that is connected to something in contact with the earth = good conductor. An aircraft with no connections to the ground = non-conductor.

Instead, the lightning passes through the aircraft or simply dissipates through its skin. The article correctly notes in which situations this can cause problems (gaps in the fuselage—like open windows in small, low-flying aircraft—or surges causing lights to flicker, and so on).

A lightning hit downing a commercial airliner is unknown by today’s standards; the Czar anticipates that more will become known about this apparent disaster, and lightning itself will probably not be the cause. Low pressure cell? Microburst? Pilot error? At this point, anything is possible.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.