Officials: Lightning Strike Forces LaGuardia Bound Plane To Land At JFK
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Officials say a lightning strike forced a plane from North Carolina to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
It happened around 6 p.m. Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration says the flight was scheduled to land at LaGuarida Airport, about 10 miles away from JFK, after reporting the plane was struck by lightning.
The flight had taken off from Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina.
"It was a tremendous bang," a passenger told CBS2's Valerie Castro.
It was a sound that passengers least expected to hear as their flight approached LaGuardia.
"There was a flash of light right outside the first row window on the left hand side of the plane and then a tremendous bang. It just lit up blue inside the plane," a passenger recalled.
Rebecca Seger said the lightning hit the plane somewhere over Manhattan.
"We knew. Like we were up in the front so we knew immediately what it was," she said.
The pilot radioed for help and told an air traffic controller they would need to take a different route.
"Don't send us through there. It's pretty bad, let's go ahead and divert to JFK," he said.
Passengers on board posted pictures to social media of emergency crews surrounding the plane on the tarmac.
"We were actually on the runway for like 20 minutes to a half hour while they were inspecting it and police around the plane and they were wearing hazmat suits," a passenger said.
American Airlines says the plane, which was carrying 55 passengers and four crew members on board, landed safely at JFK.
"Republic Airlines 4233, an Embraer E170, landed safely at John F. Kennedy International Airport at 6:06 p.m. tonight after reporting a lightning strike. The flight departed Raleigh-Durham International Airport enroute to LaGuardia Airport," the FAA said in a statement.
The FAA says it will investigate the incident.
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