An IndiGo aircraft carrying 104 passengers and six crew members suffered damage to its nose while descending towards Lucknow on Wednesday, after encountering severe weather at around 17,000 feet.
A lightning strike was initially reported as a possible cause, but officials have not yet established exactly what damaged the aircraft. IndiGo said the flight encountered unfavourable weather, including a hailstorm, during landing, while airport officials said the possibility of lightning was being examined.
Flight 6E925 landed safely at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport at about 4.04pm, several minutes before its scheduled arrival. All 110 people on board were reported safe, and there were no reported injuries. The aircraft was then taken out of service after damage to its nose was discovered, with engineers beginning a detailed inspection.
The incident is particularly striking because the aircraft was operating through adverse weather at altitude, yet completed its approach and landed safely. It also raises an interesting question for passengers: if lightning really was involved, how can a commercial aircraft absorb such an electrical event without its occupants being harmed?
Indigo Lightning Strike and the Damaged Aircraft Nose
The aircraft involved was an Airbus A320-251N, identified by reports as registration VT-IQZ. According to airport information, the pilots reported an incident to air traffic control at roughly 17,000 feet during the descent.
However, they were not immediately able to establish the extent of any damage. The problem became apparent after the aircraft had landed and reached its parking bay.
The damaged section was the radome, the protective nose structure that sits over the aircraft's weather radar. Because the radome sits in front of the weather radar, it has to meet specific structural and electrical requirements that allow radar signals to pass through it.
The FAA's guidance on airborne weather radar notes that radomes require precise construction because even relatively small changes to their physical characteristics can affect radar performance. Repairs therefore have to restore the required characteristics before the system can be considered suitable for operation.
That means visible damage to the nose cannot automatically be assumed to be cosmetic. The aircraft has been grounded while its engineering team assesses what happened and determines what work is required.
How Aircraft Survive Lightning Strikes in Flight
Commercial aircraft are specifically designed with lightning protection in mind. FAA certification requirements include protection measures intended to ensure that critical electrical and electronic functions are not adversely affected by lightning exposure, while maintenance procedures require inspections after lightning events.
The protection is not quite as simple as saying an aircraft is one giant Faraday cage, but the principle is useful for understanding what happens. When lightning attaches to an aircraft, the current generally travels through conductive parts of the structure between attachment and exit points rather than simply passing through the passenger cabin.
The FAA says common attachment points include the nose, wingtips and tail.
Aircraft protection also has to account for less obvious effects, including electrical disturbances, heating and the possibility of damage to systems or fuel-system components.
That is why an aircraft suspected of experiencing a lightning strike may require inspection before returning to service. Engineers must establish whether any systems or structure require attention.
In the IndiGo case, the airline arranged another aircraft for the passengers continuing to Ahmedabad, with the replacement service departing at about 6.22pm. IndiGo said the damaged aircraft would undergo the necessary maintenance and would return to operation only after receiving the required clearances.
The episode therefore offers a less obvious lesson than the dramatic photographs of the damaged nose might suggest. Modern airliners are engineered to cope with lightning, but that protection does not mean a strike or suspected strike can be ignored.
The incident also shows why inspection and maintenance remain important after a suspected lightning strike or other weather-related damage.
