A lightning bolt strikes a Delta airliner at the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia and the clip of the incident goes viral. In a statement issued by Delta Airlines, it was revealed that the 111 passengers and six crew members were not harmed during the lighting, actually they were not even aware of it.
A lightning bolt strikes a Delta airliner, and the incident appears a bit scary. However, Patrick Smith, a pilot and author of “Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel: Questions, Answers, and Reflections” and “Ask the Pilot: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel,” said none of the passengers were in danger.
The video was filmed by Jack Perkins, a passenger aboard another flight at the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia.
According to the caption accompanying the clip, Perkins was watching and filming the massive rain pour down on the Boeing 737-900R aircraft late Thursday night when the lighting strike occurred. The brief clip showed a lightning bolt, striking and hitting the tail of the plane. Mr. Perkins explained:
“While filming the line of planes all stacked up during a ground hold in Atlanta on 8/18/15 I happened to capture this direct lightning strike on a 737.”
In a statement shared by Delta’s spokesperson Morgan Durrant, it was revealed that the 111 passengers and six crew members on board of Delta Flight 67 heading to Las Vegas, Nevada were not affected by the natural phenomenon.
According to Durrant, none of the people inside the aircraft were aware of the incident, and it safely landed in Las Vegas few minutes late. However, the company has decided to investigate the matter.
Durrant went to explain that airplanes are designed to redirect a lighting strike. Durrant revealed:
“Aircraft design allows lightning bolts to be safely redirected. Fuselage structure and industrial-grade insulation acts as (a) super-conductive lightning rod that rechannels lightning around and away from customers and crew and out into the ground via the landing gear.”
Smith confirmed in his books:
“The energy does not travel through the cabin electrocuting the passengers; it is discharged overboard nine times in ten leaving little or no evidence of the strike itself,” Smith wrote in his book, “Ask the Pilot: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel.”
