JetBlue Plane Lands In Boston After Lightning Strike
BOSTON (CBS) -- A JetBlue plane was diverted to Logan Airport after it was struck by lightning Monday morning.
The FAA said Monday that Flight 1731, an Airbus 320, had left New York and was headed toward Bermuda.
JetBlue said the plane was diverted to Boston "to address a non-critical equipment issue."
It was then, when the plane was on its way to Logan Airport, that it was hit by lightning.
"We just took a bold of lightning for Jetblue 1731," the pilot can be heard saying in an audio recording between the plane's pilot and air traffic controllers.
The plane landed without incident at Logan at 9:44 a.m. Monday. All passengers and crew are safe.
"Maintenance crews will inspect the aircraft following reports of an unrelated lightning strike that may have occurred while en-route to Boston," JetBlue said in a statement.
Bill Dee is a retired pilot who teaches at the National Flight Simulator in New Hampshire.
He said planes are capable of handling a lightning strike, but they are dangerous.
"When you get a bolt of lightning, you don't know at that point exactly what's happening, whether it's going to cause electronics to malfunction, whether it's going to be mechanical, especially if you take a hit in the nose cone, which is just covering the radar antenna," said Dee.
The pilot also had radar issues during the flight.
"The fact that they were going over water to Bermuda, it was important that they did land before they coasted out," said Dee.
The FAA is investigating.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports
