Pilot declares emergency as American Eagle plane struck by lightning TWICE as it lands in New York City

PUBLISHED: 14:55 EST, 8 May 2013 | UPDATED: 16:26 EST, 8 May 2013

An American Eagle flight from Detroit landed safely at New York’s LaGuardia Airport this morning after being struck twice by lightning as it began to land.

American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said that American Eagle Flight 4563 was hit by lightning as it approached New York's second busiest airport during a heavy thunderstorm.

Miller revealed that the captain declared an emergency as a precaution, but the plane landed safely at 10:41 a.m.

An American Eagle flight from Detroit has landed safely at New York's LaGuardia Airport after being struck by lightning

A spokesman for the airport said a maintenance team inspected the aircraft Embraer 135 aircraft that was traveling with 20 passengers and three crew members.

While passenger aircraft usually fly above nad weather, they generally are hit by lightning once a year.

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'It is routine for an aircraft to land as soon as possible after a strike, but this is a precautionary measure,' said Professor Manu Haddad of Cardiff University's Morgan Botti Laboratory to the Guardian last year.

'Lightning is extremely hot – up to 30,000C. The typical damage is a scorch mark where the point of contact was, usually a wing-tip. The plane's electronics are well shielded these days.'

The plane made an emergency landing at LaGuardia Airport this morning during heavy thunderstorms hit New York City

This NOAA satellite image taken on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 10:45 a.m. EDT shows cloudiness associated with a wrapped up storm centered over the central Appalachians with cloudiness, rain showers, and thunderstorms over the Mid- Atlantic

This comes as heavy rain and thunderstorms caused severe flooding across portions of the Tristate region today - making some roads impassible.

During the early morning, a Flash Flood Warning was in effect for Manhattan, Staten Island and Brooklyn and more than two inches of rain fell on New York City by 9 a.m.

Drivers were instructed to take precautions and to not enter any water covering the roadway.

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Lightning is not a problem for airlines. A couple of years ago I was on a KLM flight which was hit by lightning twice on the left wing as it was about to land at Glasgow airport. No fuss and it was a routine landing.

- Henning , Glasgow, 09/5/2013 05:54

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I was in a car once when lightning struck the hood as I was driving all of the instrument panel lights went out including the headlights but they came back on and the car was still running .

- phil414 , memphis, 09/5/2013 04:48

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This plane, like most others is well shielded to dissipate the extreme lightening voltage by its aluminum structure, just wait and see what happens when the composite Boeing 787 with no protection, gets hit and its electrical control systems behind the composite skin gets fried. - Barrie, Chesterfield, 5/8/13 22:08 Sorry, Barrie. There is a fine conductive mesh captive in the composite material the job of which is to dissipate a lightning strike throughout the airframe. Not to worry.

- Pellican123 , Gibsonville, N.C., 09/5/2013 03:16

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Does anyone remember their school days, and what a Faraday cage is? A cell phone will not attract a lightening strike inside a Faraday cage. Its doubtful if it would in any situation, not already prone to a strike. That would be the equaling of polar charges normally through the point of least resistance. Aircraft are struck a lot more than once a year, the pilot normally doesn't even know!

- journeyman58 , Spartanburg SC, 09/5/2013 03:14

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Yes, the radio waves from cell phones really can attract lightening. You don't need to be on a plane for that to happen either.

- nicoleapatty09 , Lowndes County, Ga USA, 08/5/2013 23:31

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So everything is well shielded these days against a lightning strike but your cell phone will bring it down...

- mic , wausau, United States, 08/5/2013 23:16

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- Barrie , Chesterfield, 08/5/2013 23:08

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