British Airways 'flight from hell' as plane struck by LIGHTNING sparking panic onboard
BA Flight 919 (not pictured) was struck by lightning as it was descending at Heathrow airport
PA
A British Airways “flight from hell” was forced to divert after it was struck by lightning whilst descending into Heathrow Airport.
The flight from Stuttgart, Germany - which was carrying some England fans who were returning from the Euros - was forced to divert to Gatwick due to the poor weather.
Passengers were supposed to land at Heathrow at 1.40pm, but lightning struck the tip of the wing as it came in for landing.
BA Flight 919 was then forced to divert to Gatwick, some 25 miles away. After landing, passengers were then driven to their original destination of Heathrow.
BA Flight 919 (not pictured) was struck by lightning as it was descending at Heathrow airport
PAOne passenger said they saw the lightning bolt travel through the cabin.
“Just got struck by lightning on the approach into Heathrow,” he posted on social media.
“It entered just underneath the flight deck and left the tail – we saw it shoot through the cabin.
“I’ve heard of lightning travelling through the cabin before, but it was my first time seeing it in real life.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
#shocking flight from @British_Airways today*
— Kico (@mrs_jebu) July 7, 2024
*this is a joke, the crew were amazing when our flight got struck by lightning on the approach to Heathrow and had to divert to Gatwick. Amazingly, someone caught it on video! pic.twitter.com/YERuZ4JYeg
The flight had been plagued with issues throughout. It was initially delayed from takeoff from Stuttgart due to issues with the brakes, causing one man to describe it as the “flight from hell”.
He posted online: “My son and grandson were on that flight.
“Overheated brakes delayed take off in Stuttgart, struck by lightning and diverted to LGW. Flight from Hell if you ask me.”
A Euros fan who was travelling home went on to praise the response of the crew in light of the scary situation. Robert Rossall told the MailOnline: “The captain made a decision to land at the safer airport given the conditions and lightning strike.
The aircraft was meant to land at 1.40pm at Heathrow, but was instead diverted to Gatwick
PA“Once on the tarmac he was informative and even walked the length of the plane to talk to all passengers. Cabin crew passed around bottled water and were calming. [It was] very professionally handled.”
A spokesman for British Airways said: “BA919 diverted to Gatwick earlier this afternoon due to weather related conditions in the region.
“The flight landed just before 2pm. Customers were driven from Gatwick to Heathrow.
“We’re sorry for the inconvenience to our customers’ travel plans.”