New York woman’s terror at an unholy mid-air sound is a warning every flyer needs to hear before their next trip
Talk about a heart-stopping moment!
A woman flying from Buffalo, New York, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, recently shared her terrifying experience on TikTok after her plane was struck by lightning mid-flight. Natalie Longo (@natalieelongo) detailed the scary incident in a video that’s now garnered over 23,000 views, giving us all a fresh perspective on what can happen when you’re soaring through the skies.
According to BroBible, Longo explained that as she boarded her early morning flight, the crew gave a heads-up that the first 15 minutes of the trip would be “pretty rough.” She figured it wouldn’t be too bad, but oh boy, was she wrong. During the plane’s ascent, she could actually see thunderstorms all around the aircraft. Then, without warning, it happened.
“I didn’t realize what happened at first. I didn’t know if, like, the engine blew or something because it got struck,” Longo recounted. “It lit up, and then it was like the loudest boom ever.” She instantly thought an engine had blown and feared they were either headed for an emergency landing or worse.
The loud boom had all the passengers thinking the end was near
In her terror, Longo started praying, and she even texted both her parents, saying, “I love you.” She genuinely thought the worst was happening, wondering if the engines had failed from the lightning strike. Luckily, the plane eventually climbed above the stormy clouds. Longo said she was never happier than when she saw the sunrise above the clouds, a true testament to the pilots’ skill in getting them to Florida safely.
Now, while this sounds like a nightmare scenario for anyone with a fear of flying, it’s actually more common and less risky than you’d think. Airplanes are incredibly robust machines, and it’s estimated that every aircraft in active service gets hit by lightning about once a year. But the good news is that planes are specifically designed to handle lightning strikes.
The engineering behind it is pretty clever. When lightning hits, the electrical current is conducted around the surface of the plane, which helps prevent serious damage. Plus, critical systems are protected with redundancy, shielding, and isolation, so they’re not easily knocked out. Usually, a lightning strike only causes minor surface damage. Still, every time it happens, the crew has to report it, and the plane gets a thorough inspection for any damage before it can fly again.
Predictably, commenters on Longo’s TikTok video were pretty shaken. Many declared it a “new fear unlocked,” with one user sharing their own childhood trauma from being in a minivan struck by lightning, adding, “I can’t imagine being in an airplane freaking MIDAIR and that happening lol.”
However, some folks found a silver lining, arguing that stories like Longo’s actually prove how safe flying is. As one commenter put it, “What cures my fear of flying is the fact that lots of people post the CRAZIEST things they’ve gone thru on planes and have lived to post it lmao.”
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