I was flying into Orlando early last friday night from Denver. The weather was scattered thunderstorms, and I figured we'd maybe dodge around a bit then come in through breaks. On final approach about 5 minutes from touchdown, we heard what sounded like someone banging on the roof with a hammer in rapid succession. Simultaneously, the lights flickered and the whole plane lurches like someone had stomped on the brakes, then let up. Most of the window blinds around me were closed, but directly after that little incident the guy sitting in the window seat next to me opened his just as a flash and thunderclap went off, indicating a near miss. I figured that was the second of two bolts, the first one striking the plane. I turned around to get a look at what others were doing, and noticed the couple sitting behind me were suddenly embracing each other with worried looks on their faces. I chuckled. Had my wife been with me, she'd have been crying about then.

So we touch down and the rain is pouring down. We taxi to the terminal, but they won't bring the gantry out to us because the threat of lightning is high they tell us and that is their policy, so we have to wait 5 minutes till they get the all clear. I am fortunately sitting in the aisle seat at the bulkhead so I am the first one off the plane. I get on the shuttle train from the sattelite terminal to the main concourse, and as I am riding the train, I see another strike out on the runway, with associated whack resonating through the car. Now I happen to notice the train track also has a large steel pipe barricade running on both sides, and we are elevated up about 30 feet from the deck, so I figure what the heck in the 45 seconds it takes to get to the concourse what's the chance of taking another strike. Fortunately this time my luck holds.

The way I see it, that airplane is probably safer than being in my own house as far as getting electrocuted by a direct hit goes, but having it shudder like that on approach wasn't so cool. I guess I am surprised that MCO traffic control let us come in like that, but I guess they are used to it and know what they are doing. I try to be wary of the arrival and departure times for airports prone to daily thunderstorm activity, but this trip my choices were limited. In any case, there's not much anyone can do if the plane takes a strike and flight controls go wonky. Nice to know my heart can stop for a good three seconds without any real physiological consequences. Burning down the adrenaline while cooped up in that sardine can afterwards was a different matter. It's unsettling for the other passengers when the big monkey in the front of the plane gets real twitchy...