Mid-air lightning strikes send a cracking noise through the cockpit and a shudder down a pilot's spine but rarely cause damage, a senior Cathay Pacific captain said yesterday after a jet was struck while approaching Chek Lap Kok.
The Cathay jet was hit three times as it returned from London during an electrical storm.
The pilot said hail and turbulence were usually more of a worry than lightning. But he said a crack in a jet's windscreen would strike fear into the crew, who would want to land immediately in case the glass came off.
'A crack in a windshield is not something you ignore,' he said. 'If it's accompanied by a massive great cracking sound, a bang and a flash of light, you probably think, 'I'd really like to be on the ground right now'.'
He said loss of pressure was the greatest concern. 'You don't want the windshield to go as a pilot, because you'll be the first one to be sucked out.
But he said the windscreens comprised several layers of thick glass, with a layer of plastic in between. 'You can't break one with a seven-pound hammer.'
