Tarom flight on Bucharest-Chișinău route forced to return after being struck by lightning

A Tarom flight operating on the Bucharest-Chișinău route was forced to return to Henri Coandă Airport after it was struck by lightning.

The Tarom Boeing 737-800NG aircraft, which took off at 10:10 PM, was hit by lightning while flying from Bucharest to Chișinău. The incident took place on Sunday evening and was confirmed Monday morning by the state carrier.

The plane returned to Otopeni/Henri Coandă Airport one hour and eight minutes after takeoff, and the pilots informed air traffic controllers of what happened. No passenger or crew member was harmed as a result of the incident.

"Flight ROT209 OTP2005 (Bucharest/Otopeni- Chișinău) Boeing 737-700 was delayed by 3 hours and 10 minutes last night due to technical reasons. At takeoff, under weather conditions, the plane was struck by lightning. Under these circumstances, following the information received from the pilots, the decision was made to cancel the flight, and the Boeing 737-82R was returned to the ground in Bucharest and sent for technical inspection," Tarom said in an official press release cited by News.ro.

According to the airline, “aircraft are built with an adequate structure for protection against this type of incidents, and lightning cannot affect them to the extent of causing major malfunctions that could endanger its flying capacity."

A new aircraft, a Boeing 737, which boarded all 53 passengers, took off from Otopeni International Airport and the flight was carried out.

(Photo source: Colicaranica | Dreamstime.com)