On the night of October 31st, a KLM cargo plane with the number MP8321 en route between Amsterdam and Johannesburg encountered an unexpected situation during its climb. The Boeing 747400F was struck by lightning.
The aircraft involved in the incident was a Boeing 747400 cargo aircraft, registration PHCKB, which had been in service for 20 years. According to the Planespotters.netShe was originally delivered to KLM in 2003 but is currently operated by Martinair and flies on behalf of KLM Cargo.
The flight took off from Amsterdam at 10:48 p.m. but was struck by lightning while climbing, as reported by The Aviation Herald. The flash caused digital systems to malfunction and even created an electrical smell on board. For this reason, the pilots decided to return to Schiphol instead of continuing to Johannesburg.
Before the plane could land safely two hours after takeoff, it had to complete a series of waiting periods to burn off fuel. The landing was safe and the jet was sent for maintenance. The same aircraft was able to complete the same route between Amsterdam and Johannesburg the following day, November 1st, and has been operating on this route ever since.
Despite the incident and return, it is not common for lightning strikes to affect aircraft systems. Most of the time, socalled “lightning strikes” are not even noticed, but are only discovered later through inspections, which reveal signs of lightning entering and exiting various parts of the aircraft.
The reason for this is that aircraft are designed to conduct electrical discharges outward from the entry point to the exit point without posing any danger to those inside. However, in the case of very intense lightning or multiple lightning strikes, the intensity of the discharge may have some impact on certain electrical and electronic systems, but without serious risks to flight safety.