Southwest Flight Diverted To Oakland After Lightning Strike
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A Southwest Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Oakland Thursday morning after it was struck by lightning while taking off from Los Angeles International Airport.
It was the second flight struck by lightning on the skies above LAX during Thursday morning's rainstorm.
Southwest Airlines said flight 1816 from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore. was diverted to Oakland after an apparent lightning strike departing LAX at around 9:25 a.m.
The 81 passengers onboard and crew of 5 were moved to another aircraft to continue their flight. No injuries were reported.
About 45 minutes later, at 10:10 a.m., a JetBlue flight headed to New York was forced to reverse course and make an emergency landing also after being struck by lightning just after takeoff from LAX.
An LAX spokesperson told CBS2 that the plane — which had 153 people aboard and 36,000 pounds of fuel — safely landed a little after 11 a.m. There was no word of any injuries.
"Crews will inspect the aircraft and determine if it may continue on to New York or if customers will be accommodated on another aircraft," JetBlue said in a statement.
Several passengers on the JetBlue flight took to social media to describe the event.
"No joke, our plane from LAX to JFK got hit by lightening (sic)," Victoria Rickson wrote on Twitter. "Turning around and heading back to LA for emergency landing."