New Zealand plane en route to Southern Pacific island struck by lightning

A New Zealand flight bound for Rarotonga, Cook Islands, in the Southern Pacific was struck by lightning early Thursday morning.

Passengers on board had the scare of their life as the Air New Zealand flight circled over Tāwharanui Peninsula in northern Auckland eight times for almost an hour before landing around 8 am (local time).

Flight tracking showed the aircraft didn’t make it far before being hit.The aircraft was an Airbus A321 —a twin-jet plane.NZ942 was struck shortly after take-off. The plane had to use up some fuel before landing.

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Following the incident, Air NZ said they set up a “recovery flight” to get disappointed jet-setters to Cook Island.

“The aircraft has now landed back in Auckland, where it will undergo standard engineering checks,” an Air NZ spokesperson said just after 8:30 am (local time), according to Stuff news portal.

The spokesperson said that lightning strikes are not uncommon.

“Aircraft are designed with this in mind and our pilots train for this scenario.”

Notably, this wasn’t the first time that a plane turned back after experiencing a few glitches.

Earlier this week, a damaged windscreen forced a plane headed forJapan to turn around miles above the Pacific Ocean on Monday.

Lightning strikes are common

As mentioned by Air NZ’s spokesperson, lightning striking a plane is common. More lightning strikes occur while in clouds, during the climb and descent phases of flight, than in any other flight phase.

The reason is that lightning activity is more prevalent between 5000 to 15,000 feet (1524m to 4572m).

The planes that undertake short routes with a high incidence of lightning activity are more likely to be struck compared to long-haul airplanes operating in mild environments, experts noted.

A study by Boeing argued that a single bolt of lightning could contain as much as 1 million volts or 30,000 amps.

The amount and type of damage an airplane experiences when struck by lightning can vary greatly, depending on factors such as the energy level of the strike, the attachment and exit locations, and the duration of the strike, the study says.

Most commercial flights are made of aluminium, which is a good conductor of electricity and allows the lightning to pass across the skin of the aircraft, with the current usually exiting the aircraft at the tail.

Static wicks (small wires that are screwed into the trailing edge of plane wings) discharge static electricity that an aircraft picks up as it moves through the air but also dissipates a lightning strike.

(With inputs from agencies)

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