UK flight forced to turn around after lightning strike hits plane

A Loganair flight departing from Manchester was forced to turn back after being struck by lightning mid-air.

Flight LM26 took off just after 4.30 pm on Thursday, on its way to Aberdeen, when it suddenly made a U-turn while flying above Skipton in North Yorkshire.

The Embraer ERJ145 aircraft, which typically seats up to 50 people, then flew southbound back to Manchester airport, landing just after 5pm, half an hour after it initially took off.

A spokesperson confirmed toThe Independent that the flight was diverted back to Manchester following a lightning strike.

“The aircraft landed as normal and our team is currently arranging onward travel for customers to reach their final destination,” they added.

“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is of the utmost importance to us at Loganair. We thank our customers for their patience and understanding, and our ground crews for their assistance.”

Earlier in the day, Loganair warned on their X/Twitter account of the yellow weather warning forecast for Thursday as well as into the weekend throughout the UK.

They warned that flights may be affected from Manchester, as well as other UK airports, between Thursday and Saturday, and offered customers who could be affected the opportunity to adjust their travel plans without charge.

While lightning strikes are not an everyday occurrence, there is a chance that it can happen once in a while.

Airbus, an aircraft manufacturer, said in July that each in-service plane is struck by lightning at least once per year on average, however, its effects on an aircraft are limited, even if the level of energy of the strike is high.

They explained this after two British Airways aircraft happened to be struck by lightning on the same day as they approached London Heathrow on 7 July.

Two Airbus A320 jets landed safely, though one ended up being diverted to Gatwick Airport.

More recently, a cross-Atlantic flight from the US to Rome was also forced to turn around after they encountered lightning.

In early August, a Delta flight was on its way to Rome from Boston when the crew reported they had been struck by lightning, forcing them to turn back while flying over the Atlantic.

The flight landed without incident, with the airline saying they returned just out of an abundance of caution.

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