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Terror at 10,000ft as lightning strikes jet en route to Gatwick
Last updated at 00:52am on 12.02.08British holidaymakers spoke of their terror last night after their plane was forced to make an emergency landing when it was struck by lightning.
Passengers on board the Continental Airlines Boeing 757 bound for Gatwick described a "huge explosion" shortly after taking off from Newark airport, just outside New York.
With memories still fresh of the Heathrow crash just three weeks ago, many began screaming as a burning smell began to fill the cabin.
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A Gatwick-bound Boeing 757, like this one, made an emergency landing shortly after take off from Newark Airport, near New York, when it was struck by lightning
Emergency crews were on full standby as the jet, which had around 100 passengers on board, made a rapid descent from 10,000ft to land safely back at Newark.
Rachael Bamber, 23, who was travelling on the plane with her boyfriend Shane Hanlon, said: "About five minutes into the flight there was a huge explosion, a flash of white light outside and a loud bang inside.
"People started screaming. I thought: 'Oh my God, we are going to crash.' I screamed out for Shane, and he said we'd probably been struck by lightning.
"Some passengers said they could smell burning, and the girl behind us was in hysterics, screaming and praying and shouting: 'Get me off the plane! Get me off the plane!'
"A couple of minutes later the pilot announced we had been struck by lightning and that we were going back to make an emergency landing."
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Radiographer Rachael Bamber, 23, from Swinton, Wiltshire, and boyfriend Shane Hanlon, 32, were aboard the plane when it was struck
Miss Bamber, 23, a radiographer at Great Western Hospital in Swindon, Wiltshire, and Mr Hanlon, 32, were returning home after a two-week trip to visit her brother Nick in New York and a great aunt in Florida.
She revealed that, although Flight 114 had taken off in torrential rain and thick cloud, "everything seemed fairly normal".
"After it happened, the pilot turned us round and we made a pretty rapid descent, landing less than four minutes later," Miss Bamber said.
"In the air, the pilot's announcement was, 'It appears that we may have been struck by lightning so we are just going to head back down and check the plane out'.
"When we got off the plane we saw a 2ft gash in the nose cone, a hole with metal ripped back. It was only then we realised the enormity of what had happened.
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Weathered: The nose of the plane was severely damaged, with a 2ft gash, a hole and the metal ripped back
"Afterwards, they gave us meal vouchers and I saw the pilot at a bar getting a coffee. I gave him a big hug and thanked him for getting us down safely.
"He said the crew had been completely blinded for about three seconds. It had never happened to him before but he said it does happen to planes sometimes. I'm just so glad our pilots and crew were so professional."
A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs Newark airport, said no injuries had been reported.
A spokesman for Continental Airlines said: "We have had a few calls about this."
Last night, experts insisted that all commercial planes are rigorously tested to ensure they are safe in different weather conditions, including lightning.
They claim the key to a plane's protection is its aluminium skin, which conducts the charge along the aircraft's body to its tail, where it exits.
Because most strikes usually hit a plane's extremities - its wing tips, nose, fin or tailplane tips - passengers rarely notice, although they often report a flash or jolt afterwards.
However, lightning can prove problematic because it affects onboard computers and flight instruments, especially the radar, which is located in the fibre-glass nose at the front of the plane.
For this reason, all vital electrical components are protected by electrical shielding and surge suppressors.
In 2005, another Boeing 757 was battered by hailstones the size of golf balls at 5,000ft as it took off from Palma, Majorca, en route to Gatwick.
Its fibreglass nosecone and wings were damaged, the first officer's window shattered and cockpit windows scratched.
However, the pilot was able to fly the jet through the storm.
Reader views (15)
There were two other lightning strikes in Ireland around the same time the most serious of which resulted in the death of a teenager walking near Tallaght, Dublin across a suburban green during a thunder storm. The other one involved a plane, the Irish Government jet, flying from Dublin to Belfast which was struck as it landed - same effects, loud bang etc and landed safely. It had a Taoiseach ( Prime Minister) on board.
- Seán F Ó Drisceoil, Stornoway, Scotland
Praise God for the pilots sense of calmness and knowledge on how to handle the emergency and to get his plane and customers safely down!
- Patti, UK
"Enormity" of what happened? Please. A hole in a fibreglass radome is not going to result in anything even remotely approaching danger.
- Chig, Marylebone
So what did the person who screamed "get me off this plane" expect to happen? Maybe Scotty would beam her up? Bad enough for a pilot to have a plane struck by lightning, but worse still do have a bus load of soap actresses in the back of the bus.
- George, Dublin Ireland
The article states: "They claim the key to a plane's protection is its aluminium skin, which conducts the charge along the aircraft's body to its tail, where it exits." Does anyone know why the energy from the strike should flow through the plane in any particular direction? Is there some reason it should be at a lower potential?
- Mitch, USA
"Let me off the plane!"
I wish they'd been able to.
- Eric, Sotheby, UK
This always seems to happen when I fly home.
- Bob, Gatwick
"They claim the key to a plane's protection is its aluminium skin, which conducts the charge along the aircraft's body to its tail, where it exits."
The new planes being made are constructed of composites which would not be able to conduct lightning in the way described. I remember a story where one Boeing engineer raised serious concerns about their safety, and was fired.
- Dimitri, Durham
This is insane, I've been struck about 5 times in an aircraft. It is not a big deal, these people need to stop whining. Did you see the pilot's quote:
"In the air, the pilot's announcement was, 'It appears that we may have been struck by lightning so we are just going to head back down and check the plane out'.
Obviously relaxed, emergency, no way!
- William, USA
I appreciate that some people have a fear of flying, but panicking when there appears to be an emergency on board is utterly without use or value to anyone. Those screaming in panic just need to grow up.
- Peggy, Missouri U.S.A.
I fly Continental a few times per year and they are always professional. Great job by the flight crew. The 757 is one of the safest if not the safest airliner flying.
- Franc, Palm Beach, FL USA
How come this couple managed to get their picture published in this article so quickly and no photo of the Pilot who did a great job getting the plane back to safety so quickly?
- Mo, Fairfax Station, Virginia,
As someone who was actually on this flight I would also like to say how professionally the pilot and crew handled the situation. Incredibly calm and efficient.
Not something I want to repeat in a hurry however!
- Jessica, London, UK
This kind of thing only happens under 'New' Labour. Thank you Tony Blair...
- Dave, Wookey Hole, Somerset
As one who regularly flies Continental out of Newark to the UK I would like to say thanks to the Pilots who handled this emergency so well.
- Kate, Houston Texas.
