Plane struck by lightning flies safely to Juneau

The 145 passengers aboard an Alaska Airlines 737 traveling from Sitka to Juneau on Tuesday night got a bit of a scare when a bolt of lightning struck the plane a couple minutes after take-off.

“We heard a big pop, like a light bulb pop,” Becky Larsen, a 51-year-old Juneau resident on Flight 67, said. “It vibrated below our feet, and it just brightened the whole cabin because the lights were off.”

The plane was able to continue to fly as scheduled to Juneau where it landed safely. It was taken out of service as a precaution and another plane flew the rest of the route to Anchorage, a spokesperson for the airline said.

“Our airplanes are designed to dissipate the electrical energy of the lightning bolt without damaging aircraft systems, so that was what enabled them to continued to fly safely,” Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Halley Knigge said by phone from Seattle Wednesday. “They were in contact with maintenance, and everything was safe for them to continue on into Juneau. But at that time, just out of abundance of caution, we took the plane into maintenance to carefully inspect it and check for any damage, make any repairs that would be necessary.”

It’s not yet known if any repairs will have to be made. The inspections are being done today (Wednesday), Knigge said.

Lightning is rare in southeast, especially this time of year. But Knigge said it’s not uncommon for lightning to strike aircraft.

“Often, it goes unnoticed by passengers,” she noted. “It sounds like this one was noticed.”

Passengers on the flight remained calm even though plane was jolted, Larsen said in an interview Wednesday.

“I had a girl beside me that was maybe 10 or 12 years old, and I didn’t want to freak out or scream,” Larsen said, noting that other passengers must have felt the same way.

“This was an experience for somebody that hates to fly,” she added with a laugh.

The flight had departed behind schedule at 6:59 p.m. from Sitka, and taking the plane out of service caused further delay. Among those who had to wait several hours to catch the flight to Anchorage was politician Byron Mallott, the running mate of Independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker.

A campaign spokesperson, Lindsay Hobson, said Mallott was trying to get to Anchorage by 9:45 p.m. to join his ticket mate at Election Central at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center.

“It’s the unity ticket, and we had hoped to get together,” Hobson said before pausing and adding, “but, you know, lightning strikes.”

- Source:  http://juneauempire.com