Lightning striking any object is enough to send shivers down your spine, but when the object is an aeroplane, it’s an event that can shake us to our very bones. Every time a plane plummets from the sky, we are reminded of how precarious flying is for us humans, and the force of lightning seems to highlight how much the heavens’ odds seem stacked against us. Yet exactly what danger does it present to planes?
In the wake of the recent Air France Airbus AF447 disaster – which crashed into the Atlantic carrying 228 people, and whose cause at the time of writing remains unclear – let’s consider the phenomenon of lightning hitting planes, and weigh up how much of a risk it poses to our activities in the air.
This tiny puppy may have been born without front legs but there's no way that is holding her back.
Hope, the appropriately named two-legged Maltese puppy gets around by using a specially-designed device which features wheels from a model aeroplane.
The energetic pup uses her hind legs to boost her body forward onto her chest and operate the wheeled prosthetic limbs.
The beloved pooch was born with only two legs and has small wriggling nubs where her front legs should be.
At first Hope moved around by hopping but experts said her her natural mode of moving eventually would damage her bones and spine.
The wheeled device was created by orthotist David Turnbill free of charge with makeshift shoulder joints connected to model airplane wheels.
Each of the device's 'arms' can move up or down independently of the other, allowing Hope to pivot and turn.
The spring-loaded prosthetic arms hook to a custom-fitted chest plate to allow Hope to lay down or sit up without removing the prosthetic.
The wheels she uses as front legs took some getting used to and at first the tiny lap dog would tip over to one side.
However practice made perfect and now the persistent puppy has mastered the art of wheeling herself around, there is no stopping her.
In fact she can bound across a room at a surprisingly break-neck pace.
'She gets around fine,' said the puppy's rehabilitation specialist Cassy Englert.
'She never knew anything other than hopping like she did. The hardest thing is teaching her a new way to get around that's going to actually be better for her,' he added.
Hope was taken in by Southern Comfort Maltese Rescue in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA when she was six weeks old.
When the puppy grows bigger she will need to have another device made for her.
Lightning striking any object is enough to send shivers down your spine, but when the object is an aeroplane, it’s an event that can shake us to our very bones. Every time a plane plummets from the sky, we are reminded of how precarious flying is for us humans, and the force of lightning seems to highlight how much the heavens’ odds seem stacked against us. Yet exactly what danger does it present to planes?
