In a single flight in 1984, the F-106B N816NA was struck 72 times in the space of only 45 minutes while penetrating a thunderstorm at 38,000 feet!
The interesting photo in this post features F-106B 57-2516, known as NASA 816 Lightning Strike Burns.
After this F-106B flew as N616NA for NASA’s Lewis Research Center in Cleveland for several years in supersonic transport-related studies, it was transferred to Langley Research Center and renumbered N816NA for a role it would serve for nearly six years starting in January 1979, as JP Santiago explains in an interesting article that appeared on his website Tails Through Time. N816NA became a part of NASA’s Storm Hazards Program in order to research how lightning strikes affect aircraft.
According to Bill Yenne’s narrative in Convair Deltas: From SeaDart to Hustler, the program started in 1978 using De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, which were used to plan N816NA’s penetration flights by flying on the fringes of thunderstorms and collecting lightning data. To trigger lightning strikes, the altered Delta Dart would be flown into thunderstorms.
The Delta Dart operated mostly off the coast of Virginia and at various locations in the US Midwest. During its penetration flights, it would descend as low as 3,500 feet and ascend as high as 50,000 feet. During its time in the Storm Hazards Program, N816NA made 1,496 thunderstorm penetrations and was struck by lightning 714 times. It was struck 72 times in 45 minutes during one flight in 1984, passing through a thunderstorm at 38,000 feet!
The data collected during the program proved to be extremely valuable to both commercial and military aviation and represented a significant step in aviation safety.
Photo by NASA
