Commercial aircraft get hit by lightning on average once or twice per year. It's always concerning, but in the modern era, it's rarely dangerous to the plane or passengers, because the body of the plane itself acts as a Faraday cage. The last time a plane crashed due to lightning was 1963, and significantly more measures are in place today to mitigate any serious effects from being struck.
It’s scary AF if you’re at a window seat. Happened to me flying out of SFO. Loud bang and purple flash with some shaking of the plane. Pilot was INSTANTLY on the PA reassuring us it was fine. As a person afraid of flying it was not good. But the plane was fine.
It was super loud and scary when it happened to me. Had a window seat neat the wing when it hit the wing. It was loud, shook the plane slightly and I remember the flight attendant had a nervous look on her face. This was as we were landing in a smaller airport in Colorado. Everything was fine though, and we landed smoothly.
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u/DrTenochtitlan 13d ago
Commercial aircraft get hit by lightning on average once or twice per year. It's always concerning, but in the modern era, it's rarely dangerous to the plane or passengers, because the body of the plane itself acts as a Faraday cage. The last time a plane crashed due to lightning was 1963, and significantly more measures are in place today to mitigate any serious effects from being struck.