Question: What is the worst damge lightning can cause to a plane and is protection against it perfected?

Rhys Phillips answered on 11 Jun 2011:

Lightning could potentially destroy a plane if it was made out of a material that couldn’t handle the electricity and it wasn’t protected. Luckily, the protection used on commercial airliners is thoroughly tested to make sure it works. However, like in many aspects of science, you can never guarantee that damage won’t be caused. But planes are hit by lightning all the time and any significant or live threatening damage is extremely rare.