A British Airways plane was struck by lightning as it approached Heathrow Airport.
Passengers on board flight BA919 from Stuttgart to Heathrow have described their “shock” following the incident which forced crews to divert to Gatwick.
The flight left Germany shortly after 1:00 pm local time (12:00 pm BST) and was scheduled to land at Heathrow at 1:40 pm
The lightning forced pilots to divert to Gatwick, where passengers arrived at around 2pm before being transferred to Heathrow.
One passenger shared a photo of the lightning outside the plane window and said: “The crew were amazing when our flight was struck by lightning on approach to Heathrow. It was shocking. The flight had to divert to Gatwick.”
Another man, whose son and grandson were on the flight, described it as a “flight to hell” after passengers suffered delays due to overheated brakes in Stuttgart before being diverted in the UK due to lightning.
A British Airways spokesman said: ‘BA919 was diverted to Gatwick this afternoon due to weather conditions in the region.
“The flight landed shortly before 2 p.m. Passengers were transferred from Gatwick to Heathrow.”
Another passenger, on a separate flight to Heathrow, also said: “I was struck by lightning just as I was approaching Heathrow. It entered just below the cockpit and came out through the tail – we saw it go through the cabin.”
‘I had heard of rays traveling through the cabin before, but this was the first time I had seen it in real life.’
This is a breaking news story. More to come soon.
A British Airways plane was struck by lightning as it approached Heathrow Airport. (File image)
