Southwest Airlines 737 Struck by Lightning at Gate in Las Vegas
Southwest Boeing 737
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 jet was struck by lightning Tuesday evening as it was sitting at a gate at Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport (LAS).
There were no passengers on board Flight 529 at the time of the incident, as the airline was preparing for a flight to San Jose.
There were 8 crew members aboard, but the captain had them evacuate after the lightning strike.
Fire crews reportedly did not find extensive damage to the plane but it was removed from service.
Image: Flickr [stuseeger]
Category: Airnation
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Wow! I wonder where the lightning grounded itself. It would be interesting if the plane was fueling at the time; i could imagine a fuel line going from the plane to the ground would make for an explosive ground!
Glad everyone was ok!
Usually a lightning strike poses no threat while in the air, but I never put any thought into while it is on the ground. Being that LAS provides ground power to all aircraft while at the gate, I wouldn’t want to be standing anywhere near the ground power hookup, or the entire jetbridge for that matter – that’s probably where the real danger would lie.
Happened at Sea-Tac earlier this year; July I believe…lightning struck an Alaska jet just boarding its passengers and the airport shut down for an hour to allow the storm cell to pass….