Passenger Plane Struck By Lightning Mid-Air While Landing At Heathrow Airport
These incredible images show the moment a plane landing at Heathrow Airport was struck by lightning in mid-air.
The plane, that was apparently flying in from Reykjavik, was struck as it made it way past Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea FC.
It was flying just below a large dark cloud at the time of the strike, which came as London was hit with wintry weather.
Incredibly, the Icelandair plane managed to land safely - but those on board at the time were shocked by the sudden noise they heard from inside the cabin.
Passenger Catherine Mayer told the Evening Standard that the strike was “sudden and loud and very bright and unmistakable for what it was”.
She added: ”I think all the passengers were too shocked to react but when we landed everybody was talking about it.
Struck: The lightning hit the plane as it flew over London (Twitter/@hi_flyer7)
Shock: The plane landed safely at Heathrow (Twitter/@version3point1)
“The captain came on the Tannoy and said, laconically, that we ‘may have noticed a lightning strike’ and people laughed.”
The flight was seemingly not the only plane that was struck by lightning, with a British Airways flight also hit.
A spokesman for British Airways told Metro: “Lightning strikes are fairly common, and aircraft are designed to cope with them.”
Top pic: Rex
