Air passenger Jack Perkins was sitting on his plane awaiting to taxi to the runway during bad weather. He decided to film the stormy weather before passengers were told to turn electronics off and captured this.
Incredibly he captured a neighbouring Delta 737 passenger plane being struck by lightning at the tail end. You’ll notice in the slow-motion reply his phone camera totally freaks out as the lightning flash overloads the camera’s CCD – literally too much light for the camera’s sensor to handle.
Before you go burning your holiday plane tickets – aircraft are designed to handle Mother Nature’s lashes of lightening. Modern planes are made from a carbon composite covered with a thin layer of copper – essentially acting as a giant Faraday cage. This means the space in which you’re sitting – and more importantly, the space where the jet fuel is sitting is protected from any lightening sparks and the intense heat generated.
