A holiday flight bound for Italy was forced to turn around and head straight back to London Gatwick Airport after being hit by a lightning bolt minutes after take-off.
EasyJet flight U28305, an Airbus A319 registered G-EZDH, departed Gatwick’s runway 08R at 2.22pm on Thursday, 14 May 2026, bound for Milan. Witnesses on the ground reported stormy skies around the airport at the time, with thunder rumbling and lightning flashing across the South East.
As the aircraft climbed through the clouds, that’s exactly when things got dramatic. A lightning bolt struck the jet as it pushed through the cloud layer. The flight crew continued the initial climb to around 16,000 feet while running checks on the aircraft’s systems, before declaring a priority and requesting a return to Gatwick.
Air traffic control vectored the plane back round, and it landed safely on the same runway just 27 minutes after it had left. Emergency services met the aircraft on the tarmac as a standard precaution — exactly what you’d expect after any lightning strike incident.
In a statement, the airline confirmed the diversion was purely precautionary. An EasyJet spokesperson said the flight had diverted back to London due to a lightning strike on the aircraft, and added that the crew were assisting passengers and arranging onward travel.
Now, before anyone panics about flying through a thunderstorm — modern aircraft are genuinely built for this. The fuselage acts as a Faraday cage, conducting electricity safely around the outside of the cabin rather than through it. That said, mandatory inspections are required after any strike to make sure the avionics and airframe haven’t taken any damage.
It’s not actually that rare an event either. Commercial jets get struck multiple times a year on average, with most passengers none the wiser. But when it happens shortly after take-off in poor weather, pilots will usually choose to come back round rather than press on — and that’s exactly what happened here.
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Sources:
- AIRLIVE — easyJet A319 returned to Gatwick following lightning strike on departure
- Euro Weekly News — Lightning bolt hits easyJet plane, forcing emergency landing at Gatwick
- Sussex.News — EasyJet plane hit by lightning shortly after take-off from Gatwick Airport
- UKNIP — EasyJet flight struck by lightning after takeoff from Gatwick
