Wizz Air Flight Returns To Airport After Being Hit By Lightning

© Getty Images

The Wise Air flight passed through the lightning and returned to Tirana.

-Getty Images

The wise Air plane was forced to return to its starting point after a thunderstorm on Monday.

The low-cost Hungarian airline confirmed the crash of flight W67902 on Monday evening in a statement this morning.

"After a thunderstorm on board, the pilot returned to Tirana to ensure the safety of all passengers and crew on board," an airline spokesman said, adding that the plane landed safely in Tirana.

"The safety of our passengers and crew has always been our top priority."

The flight departed Tirana Albanian Airport at 17:03, landed north of Toman, then turned west and headed south to Abu Dhabi.

However, about 25 minutes into the flight, the tracking site Flightradar24 showed that the Airbus A321 was heading north towards its departure point after passing through a thunderstorm on a hill near Novy Rogozin.

“I was sitting in seat 3F and looking out the window,” Indian Sansrita Maitra told the Emirati newspaper.

“About 20-30 minutes later, a thunderstorm struck. There was a blue light, then yellow. The whole sky lit up.

“The first thing that came to my mind was if I was safe. I didn't see the fire. It was just thunder and thunder. It was very hard.

“It was really scary. I looked down and saw a mountain. You have a chance of surviving when she's at sea, but if you're on solid ground, there's no chance of surviving."

Another passenger, Mary Ballos, said it looked like a big crack.

VIDEO: Video shows in-flight panic when flight was aborted during landing (The Independent)

The video clip shows panic in the middle of the plane due to the fact that the flight was aborted during landing.

click to enlarge

almost

Ms Paulos, of The National, said: “Something really hit the plane.

This was accompanied by a bright flash and a red glow of the left engine.

“It was scary, but I almost fell asleep then, because I was very tired from the flight, so it didn’t affect me much. But I heard the screams of other passengers.”

According to passengers, the pilot calmly explained the situation over the aircraft's speakerphone and informed the aircraft within 15 minutes that he would return to Tirana.

“The pilot is really good, very experienced,” Ms Mitra said. “He knew what he was doing. He calmed us down.

“Within 15 minutes, there will be an emergency landing in Tirana,” he said. We welcome this decision as no one wanted to fly in this situation."

Lightning strikes on aircraft are relatively rare. According to the aviation website AerotimeHub, experts estimate that lightning strikes aircraft on average once a year, or once every 1,000 flight hours.

Collisions most often occur on ascent or descent—often between 5,000 and 15,000 feet (1,524 to 4,572 meters).

According to a 2012 Boeing report on the subject, "When a commercial aircraft is struck by lightning, severe damage can result in any damage requiring major repairs that could put the aircraft out of action for an extended period of time."

When lightning strikes an aircraft, it usually travels from one side - such as the front or wing of the aircraft - to the other, such as the tail, before continuing down.

In October 2015, an Australian ground attack aircraft captured the unusual moment of landing a Qantas aircraft during a thunderstorm in Sydney.

Photos and videos posted by Sydney resident Daniel Shaw on social media show him describing it as a "close call" from a plane flying near a large lightning fork.

Meanwhile, in July 2014, an easyJet flight carrying 154 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing when one of its planes was struck by lightning minutes before landing.

Passengers traveling from Bristol to Barcelona were 'screaming and crying' when the lock of an Airbus A319-111 hit Barcelona with a 'giant' explosion, causing it to vibrate.

The plane managed to land safely after landing at Giant airport in Spain.

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(Real ATC) A Wizz Air A320 had speed signal problems after taking off from Bucharest.