Delta Air Lines Plane Struck By Lightning, Forced to Return to Boston

Airplanes are designed to withstand a lightning strike, but this one sounds like it was pretty bad.

A Delta Air Lines flight that was scheduled to fly from Boston to Rome, Italy, had to turn back to Boston Logan International Airport after it was struck by lightning.

The incident happened on Sunday, August 4 and was confirmed by both the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane landed safely after it was diverted back.

Passenger Donna Pilat told ABC News she heard "a small pop" on the flight.

"It was a very rough landing back in Boston with fire trucks waiting," she said. "We could smell burning rubber from the wheels. They had to tow the plane to a hanger and that’s why we didn’t get our luggage for hours. Long night but could have been worse."

Delta officials did not elaborate on the issue, saying only that it landed back in Boston, out of an abundance of caution.

To make matters worse, the airline is still dealing with the aftermath of the recent technology outage.

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