An Airbus A380 was flying into London’s Heathrow Airport and as the plane touched down, was struck by a lightning bolt from the stormy night’s sky. The plane landed safely but my god, the horror, the horror.
I should try and get over my lightningstrikemyplaneophobia because we’ve seen it happen before and airline officials even say it happens multiple times a year. And pretty much all the time, everything is A-OK because planes can act as conductors and let the lightning’s electricity pass through it. The bolt just keeps going its zippy way to the ground. Watch it:
But, but, but I don’t give a damn how many times this has happened before. Lightning + striking a plane + you in the plane + being in the air is always soul gnawingly scary. [Daily Mail]
glennc
Friday, May 13, 2011 at 9:43 AMi was on a plane that got struck, between London and Amsterdam (not the other way around so it did happen). it woke me up and the pilot said “it’s ok nothing to worry about we just got struck by lightning.”
he just kept on his merry way
Ash
Friday, May 13, 2011 at 10:01 AMWhats with the video? Doesnt seem to play properly in FF4.
Mitch
Friday, May 13, 2011 at 10:12 AMWorking fine for me. Make sure Brightcove is allowed if you’re using NoScript or something similar.
Des
Friday, May 13, 2011 at 11:05 AMThis just in, plane hit by lightning acts exactly like it should!
josh
Friday, May 13, 2011 at 1:01 PMPlanes are designed to be able to survive this kind of incident
Im_a_pc
Friday, May 13, 2011 at 2:41 PM“As it touched down” – They have runways up in the sky now? Does this make them cars?