Question: On your profile it says 'Research Engineer – looking at ways of protecting aircraft against lightning strikes' How are you going to do this?

Rhys Phillips answered on 16 Jun 2011:

It does indeed say that! There are several ways we are looking to achieve this – one is to use a special coating on the plane that can conduct the electricity away very quickly before it has time to cause any damage. Another is looking at what structures exist in the plane already that we could force the lightning to travel through to move it away from places where it could cause damage.