Spirit Airlines flight to Cancun makes precautionary landing after ‘multiple lightning strikes’
due to severe weather this week.
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The Airbus 321 was on its way to Cancun International Airport, a flight that runs daily.
“Our guests have deplaned in the terminal, and we’re currently working on options,” Fletcher said.
According to the National Weather Service, lightning hits commercial passenger planes about once or twice a year.
Planes are designed with conducting paths to keep the lightning strike on the exterior of the aircraft. In fact, planes typically initiate the lightning strike as they fly through “ambient electric fields” during thunderstorms.
There has not been a lightning-caused commercial transport airplane crash in “many decades,” according to the NWS website.
If a plane is hit by lightning, passengers will often hear a loud noise and see a flash.