Flight chaos: Plane struck by lightning and others diverted amid severe Queensland storms

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A passenger plane was struck by lightning and had to turn around as wild storms caused flight chaos across southeast Queensland. Other flights were diverted around the storms with…

A passenger plane was struck by lightning and had to turn around as wild storms caused flight chaos across southeast Queensland.

Other flights were diverted around the storms with some having to make unscheduled landings in regional airports.

A Virgin Australia flight was diverted to Brisbane after it was struck by lightning while en route to Mackay on Wednesday afternoon.

The flight could be seen on radar making a sharp U-turn near Bundaberg just before 7pm.

Passengers said aircraft crew told them the flight could have continued safely to Mackay, however, the plane was required to be checked by engineers as a precaution.

“(There was) only one engineer in Mackay, and that person would have been unable to clear the plane for further flight,” the passenger said.

Passengers landed back in Brisbane before being reassigned to a new plane, arriving in Mackay just before midnight.

Virgin Australia said some services were impacted by adverse weather, with three Mackay services delayed.

The lightning strike comes as severe storms smashed large parts of the state’s southeast on Wednesday afternoon.

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