A bang, a flash: I’ll never forget being struck by lightning mid-flight

2 weeks ago 4

Opinion

The Secret Pilot takes you inside the world of airlines, offering expert tips and advice from a pilot’s perspective. In his Traveller column, this active airline pilot lifts the lid on air travel both inside and outside the cockpit.

September 4, 2025 — 5:00am

It’s the bang that is the shock. A split second, and incredibly loud. Accompanied by a brilliant flash of dazzling light. Together they pierce the senses, then vanish. It’s the startling experience of sitting in the flight deck of an aircraft struck by lightning.

The saying goes that lightning never strikes twice, but lightning strikes on aircraft are far from unusual. The National Weather Service in the US estimates each aircraft is struck by lightning every 1000 flight hours. Where aircraft commonly fly impacts the odds for individual planes, with some parts of the planet more susceptible to the thunderstorms required to create lightning than others.

Thunderstorms are the apex predator of the meteorological world. Technically called cumulonimbus clouds or CBs, thunderstorms require moisture, unstable air and a lifting mechanism to come to life. That lifting mechanism is often impacted by geographical factors.

Aircraft being struck by lightning mid-flight is more common than you might think.

In Australia, the Great Dividing Range can help produce huge summer storms in cities such as Sydney and Brisbane. Weather frontal systems can produce a wave of thunderstorms through other cities including Perth, Adelaide or Melbourne.

Once formed, thunderstorms may reach upwards of 40,000 feet (12,000 metres), well above the cruising altitude of modern passenger aircraft. They produce lightning, thunder, severe turbulence, hail and damaging variable winds that can cause the one thing no pilot ever wants to encounter when close to the ground – windshear, sudden changes in wind velocity and/or direction over a short distance. That final factor is the one that presents a clear and present danger, capable of causing serious incidents.

A Qantas plane flying around a storm near Sydney Airport in 2014.

Fortunately, modern technology assists pilots to mitigate the threat thunderstorms present, both from a weather forecasting perspective but also through the weather radar equipment on board aircraft.

When a thunderstorm is detected at cruising altitude, it is common to request a clearance from air traffic control to manoeuvre around it. Even if the thunderstorm is below the aircraft, giving it a wide berth is a good idea as the storms can develop vertically, rapidly. In an ideal world, the thunderstorm becomes a pretty light show out the window – although potentially unsettling for nervous flyers, it is at a safe distance.

The standard plan is for pilots to manoeuvre upwind of the thunderstorm, as strong winds at cruising altitudes can extend the size of it laterally. It’s that extension which creates the anvil shape at the top of a large storm, producing hail and turbulence.

The greater challenge for pilots is dealing with thunderstorms when departing or arriving at an airport because the storm cells can be embedded within other layers of cloud, making them difficult to clearly identify. The proximity to the airport also means there are times a pilot needs to skirt close to the storm cell and this is what can create the risk of a lightning strike.

So, what does a lightning strike do to an aircraft?

Modern aircraft are built to withstand lightning strikes without damage to the instruments … or passengers.

Aircraft are built using what’s known as the Faraday cage concept. The fuselage is a conductive enclosure that blocks the lightning, redirecting it towards the exterior of the aircraft with the energy sent flying away again through the fuselage, wing or tail. Static wicks – which are small wires attached to sharp edges – create a safe channel to send the excess electrical charge back into the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, the complex avionics and electrical systems of the aircraft remain protected inside. That doesn’t mean the engineers won’t carefully assess the path between the entry and exit points once the aircraft is safely on the ground. A task with an extra layer of complexity for the aircraft made of lighter composite materials, such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner or Airbus A350, but these aircraft normally resume service within a day or so of their aluminium cousins.

That’s not to say that following a lightning strike, the pilots don’t take a moment to assess their instrumentation to make sure everything is operating normally. It is then also worth a calming PA announcement to the passengers to reassure them that, despite the loud bang and the flash of light, everything remains OK.

Being struck by lightning is still an intense experience. I know the feeling being struck by lightning just outside my side of the aircraft. The physical whack that flowed through my boots when the strike was close to the flight deck is hard to forget. But it is also an experience which inspires gratitude towards the engineers who designed these aircraft to withstand the awesome power of nature.

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