Strike Finder lightning detector

[eloigorri]

Hi Forum,

 

I have been flying during the monsoon season here and in Thailand, and the experiance has very much increased my respect for weather forecasts and how vulnerable we (especially small aircraft) pilots are to it.

 

My home town is Phuket, where there was a very tragic accident here recently due to appaling weather.

 

I fly a Tecnam P92JS and have decided to fit a lightning detector unit to it. If I had the space and weight allowance I would fit a weather radar, but that is not practical.

 

My theory is that I should try and equip myself with as much early warning equipment as possible for weather avoidance. Even though I will not fly knowingly into bad weather, the localised nature and unpredictablilty of thuderstorms in this region has meant I have had some close encounters with unexpected weather which were not at all pleasant.

 

My question to the forum is to find out if anyone else has a lightning detecor fitted and how they rate it. This particular model http://www.insightavionics.com/strikefinder.htm clains to give a 200 Nm range.

 

Many thanks for any valuable insight.

 

Ed

 

 

[Barefootpilot]

Hello Ed,

 

I used to fly with one when I was doing night frieght a couple of years ago. In my opionion it probably wouldn't be worth the bother fitting one. They are not that accurate and the mark on eye ball was always a much better tool than the little green screen. In day VFR you should be able to pick the storm cells from a normal CU although I haven't done that much flying in monsoon conditions.

 

Thats my 2 cents.

 

Adam.

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Here is one I use (before flight and just in general interest):

 

http://www.sphere.net.au/strikestarau/

 

Enjoy.

 

 

[planedriver]

Thats interesting Daren, i've not seen one before, though I know sometimes insurance companies use this sort of data it they think people might be making bogus damage claims .

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Yes mate, this one is quite accurate and to the minute.

 

 

[Guest browng]

I have a mate in Colorado who found that the vertical stabilizer mounted Nav antenna on his Cherokee Six worked quite well as a lightning detector!