Airplanes
are designed to withstand a lightning strike, but this one sounds like it was
pretty bad.
A
Delta Air Lines flight that was scheduled to fly from Boston to Rome, Italy,
had to turn back to Boston Logan International Airport after it was struck
by lightning.
The
incident happened on Sunday, August 4 and was confirmed by both the airline and
the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane landed safely after it was diverted back.
Passenger
Donna Pilat told ABC News she heard “a small pop” on the flight.
“It
was a very rough landing back in Boston with fire trucks waiting,” she
said. “We could smell burning rubber from the wheels. They had to tow the
plane to a hanger and that’s why we didn’t get our luggage for hours. Long
night but could have been worse.”
Delta
officials did not elaborate on the issue, saying only that it landed back in Boston, out of an abundance of caution.
To make matters worse, the airline is still
dealing with the aftermath of the recent technology outage.
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