Lightning hits aircraft with italian soccer team , video coming soon

[Olivier Staiger]

March 20, 2013 , a small isolated cell , producing graupel / sleet / snow / wind, made its way across the Jura hills from France into the Lake Geneva area. According to what I found on the web that cell did produce a few lightning bolts in France, north of the Jura. So I got my cam and started filming it, hoping it would still 'produce' once it arrives over Lake Geneva. It almost did not produce... except for one single rogue powerful bolt, which I caught in video. It is in part hidden in the precipitation. This is the only lightning bolt I saw from that cell, that evening.

but the best was yet to come : I learned a few days later that an airplane had been hit by lightning in flight over Lake Geneva that same evening. The airplane was an airbus A319 from Alitalia, charter . On board about 100 people, the entire italian national soccer team 'Gli Azzurri' and staff and italian journalists. It landed safely around 6.30 PM in Geneva. Nobody got hurt but they had some scare over the noise and shake. They got hit , according to what I read , a few minutes before landing. Well, they landed at 6.30, and I saw the lightning around 6.25 , more or less ( the cam's EXIF data shows a different time but I checked it later and realized the cam was not set correctly on time. Re-calculating , I realized I most probably have recorded the lightning that hit the airplane. So I had a closer look, on a bigger screen .. and BINGO ! Indeed, in my video you clearly see an aircraft flying out of the precipitation area where the lightning hit, just a few seconds later.

I will share/youtube the video /videostills in a week ( right now I am tied to a contract of exclusivity with an image agency ). Thank you for your patience.

 

[Michael Snyder]

Aircraft initiated Lightning strikes are actually quite common.

In fact there are times where a CB, or a cell will not produce Lightning (LTG) until a large jet passes within or under the parent cloud.
This was the case last May at Seatac airport. I actually witnessed the strike on an Alaska flight going to Sand Diego. The flight had to return to Seatac.
It was the only LTG strike in the area that day.

On average an airliner is hit ONCE a year by a LTG strike.

Some pass harmlessly through the plane, others blow out rivets and leave entry and exit wounds, but in most cases its really a non event anymore.
Outside of a maintenance check after the plane lands.

 

[John Olexa]

Aircraft initiated Lightning strikes are actually quite common.Some pass harmlessly through the plane, others blow out rivets and leave entry and exit wounds, but in most cases its really a non event anymore.Outside of a maintenance check after the plane lands.

Most times the passengers are not even aware the plane was hit.

 

[Michael Snyder]

Most times the passengers are not even aware the plane was hit.

Unless you were watching the little demon creature on the wing get struck by LTG as he tears apart the #1 engine

 

[Olivier Staiger]

okay thanks for your patience. here's my video / photos of the event.

http://youtu.be/XpPwTJdntfg

 

[Dan Robinson]

Great catch. It appears that you can make out bi-directional leader initiation from the plane, due to the upward branching above it and downward branching below. This would suggest that the plane actually triggered the strike, or at least the CG portion of it in response to an in-cloud discharge above.