A plane leaving Kansas City was hit by lightning mid-flight. How often does that happen?
Can a plane get hit by lightning while in the air?
Kansas City got the answer firsthand on Tuesday, as an American Airlines plane had to make an emergency landing after reportedly being struck.
American Airlines flight 3661 left Kansas City International Airport at 5:36 a.m. to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The plane was hit by lightning in the air about 50 minutes later, according to an American Airlines spokesperson.
The plane turned around and landed safely at KCI. The plane was able to taxi to the gate under where American Airline’s maintenance team was able to inspect it for damage. When it is suspected that a plane was hit by lightning, there is a mandatory inspection for damage.
The airline said the plane had 42 passengers on board when it was struck by lightning, and no injuries were reported.
It’s not often a plane is struck by lightning, but how often does it happen?
How often are planes hit by lightning?
The plane that was hit by lightning in Kansas City might be the only one that was struck this year, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service says that commercial airplanes are hit by lightning an average of one or two times a year. Most airplanes are struck by lightning when flying through clouds. Pilots will avoid flying in thunderstorms to prevent being struck by lightning.
Airplanes face an increased risk of being struck when they climb and descent, usually when the plane is between 5,000-15,000 feet, Fox Weather said.
Airplanes act as a lightning rod and often initiate the lightning strike. The bolt will hit one point of the plane, like the nose and travel throughout until it finds the exit, like the wing tip, aerospace company Airbus said in a blog post.
Can planes withstand lightning strikes?
All large aircraft are designed to withstand lighting strikes without suffering significant damage, Airbus said. However, many planes, like small private and experimental aircraft, are not required to be designed for protection from lightning, the weather service said.
“The aircraft structure is designed to conduct the electrical current induced by a lightning strike,” Airbus said. “For composite fuselages or components, integrated conductive metallic foils and metallic strips are used to ensure this.”
The last confirmed commercial plane crash in the U.S. directly attributed to lightning occurred in 1967, when lightning caused a catastrophic fuel tank explosion, according to the popular science magazine Scientific American.
