21.02.06
Lightning struck 4 jets operated by low-cost airline Ryanair on Sunday, the company said yesterday. Ryanair officials said lightning struck the planes as they descended to the northern coast of Spain on Sunday afternoon. 3 of the planes landed in the city of Santander while the 4th was forced to divert to Valladolid, near Madrid.
A spokesman for the airline said: 'I would say it is highly unusual for 4 planes to be struck by lightning in the same day.' Engineers inspected each of the aircraft in Santander and a flight to Frankfurt was cleared for departure after a 6 hour delay. The 2 remaining flights - one to Rome and the other to Stansted - were canceled.
A passenger the canceled flight bound for Stansted said: 'It was all a bit strange as no other airline seemed to have suffered from lightning strikes and later we were told there had been a technical fault.'
He said Ryanair officials told passengers that the delays were not caused by lightning strikes or by technical problems but by 'operational problems at the company.' However, Ryanair said yesterday that the 4 planes were all struck by lightning.
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