It was flying below a large dark cloud before a lightning bolt appeared, followed by a rumble of thunder a couple of seconds later.
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In another similar incident, holidaymakers returning from Iceland with Icelandair described a “huge crack” as lightning hit the wing of their plane.
“We could see the flash but it was on the opposite side of the plane to me”.
The average passenger plane is struck about once a year.
The Icelandair flight from Reykjavik to London was approaching Heathrow airport last night at around 8.30pm when it was hit by the lightning but it somehow managed to escape unscathed.
‘But I didn’t catch the moment of the lightning strike which was sudden and loud and very bright and unmistakeable for what it was.
“The captain came on the tannoy and said, laconically, that we “may have noticed a lightning strike” and people laughed”. There was a really loud bang and white flash – not really what you want on a plane.
“Frankly it was only a matter of time before we had a drone strike given the huge numbers being flown around by amateurs who don’t understand the risks and the rules”, said BALPA flight safety specialist Steve Landells.
“The lightning strike did not cause damage to the aircraft and the aircraft was returned to service after that inspection”, he told ABC News.
“Lightning strikes are fairly common, and aircraft are created to cope with them”.
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A passenger plane coming in to land over London probably wasn’t hit by a drone, as first thought by police.
