A Delta flight managed to land safely after it was likely struck by lightning mid-flight before it was taken out of service and inspected by crews on arrival.
Delta flight 2346 left Chicago O’Hare Airport at 8:54 pm CDT on Monday and landed at Boston’s Logan Airport at 11:45 pm EST after a stressful journey across the country that likely involved the plane being struck by lightning.
Airport crews inspected the plane when the Airbus A220 arrived at Logan Airport’s Terminal A with 85 passengers on board.
Delta Airlines said in a statement: ‘As safety is always Delta’s top priority, the aircraft is being taken out of service for evaluation in line with our typical procedures.’
The company did not confirm whether the plane had been struck by lightning during the journey.
MassPort – Massachusetts Port Authority – had emergency crews standing by on Monday night who could be seen on a cherry picker inspecting the outside of the aircraft.
The former MassPort CEO Tom Kinton said: ‘It’s not common in that it occurs every time because air traffic controllers and pilots all take precautions to avoid storms and go around them, particularly when they’re severe in nature.’
Kinton said ‘The aircraft is designed to take the hit and then have the electricity follow through the fuselage and exit the aircraft. So, you may have some disruptions — lights will flicker, avionics will go on and off in the cockpit. Things get restored fairly quickly – within seconds’.
Commercial transport passenger planes are hit by lightning on average once or twice a year, according to the National Weather Service.
Lightning isn’t the only weather condition to effect the East Coast this week. This incident comes in the midst of a very busy Atlantic hurricane season that has been affecting the weather om the Southeast coast over the past few weeks.
The weather channels warned on Tuesday that Hurricane Nigel could become a a subtropical depression or storm.
The National Hurricane Center forecasts Hurricane Nigel to eventually reach Category 3 which sustains 111-129 mph winds and has the power to damage homes, snap trees and affect electricity and water.
In June an American Eagle plane full of passengers was struck by lightning moments after it landed during a storm in Arkansas.
The Embraer E175 was waiting for the storm to pass before travelling to the gate when the terrifying flash of electricity blasted the aircraft yesterday afternoon.
The cameraman, named in Viral Press as Jason William Hamm, can be heard talking about a previous bolt which struck moments earlier, saying: ‘I don’t think it hit the plane, it still would have made an amazing video though.’
Just seconds later another ferocious flash hits the tail of the aircraft, causing people behind Mr Hamm to hoot with excitement.
Another flight was struck by lightning in Panama during a storm in 2021.
The Boeing 737 MAX aircraft was flying at approximately 30,000 ft and was coming in to land at the Tocumen International Airport in Panama City.
Dramatic footage captured from within the cockpit shows a powerful lightning bolt strike the nose of the plane as the pilots navigate a heavy storm.
Earlier in September Category 5 Hurricane Lee saw the cancellation of over 200 flights out of JFK, Newark and LaGuardia airports because of the severe thunderstorms the East Coast was already experiencing.
Source: Dailymail
