A lightning strike disrupted flights. The pilots assigned the code 7700

Flights are sometimes disrupted by drunk passengers, jokes about bombs or faulty batteries in power banks. Sometimes there are technical faults and storms that force the crew to make an emergency landing. Recently, strong winds caused planes to overturn in Italy, and now lightning has disrupted the flight of the Wizz Air crew over London.

Lightning disrupted Wizz Air flights

Last Thursday, August 27, problems were reported by two Wizz Air planes with flight numbers W95378 from Turin and W92601 from Prague. This happened after a lightning strike damaged important air traffic control equipment. The failure occurred at the port of London Luton and all flight operations there were canceled.

Complications were encountered by the machines that were in the air at that time and were heading to this airport. It turned out that they had to circle over London until the situation was brought under control. All was well with no fuel shortage on board, but the pilots of two Wizz Air planes reported that they were critically low. That’s when they issued the emergency code 7700.

An emergency landing was ordered

In both cases, the fuel-starved planes were at risk, so they were immediately directed to alternative airports – one to London Gatwick airport and the other to London Stansted. In both places, the crews landed in emergency mode under the supervision of emergency services. Ultimately, everyone reached their destinations in safe conditions.

When this situation occurred, there was a storm in the city, strong winds and visibility were difficult. Technical teams at the Port of London Luton were working to contain the situation, assessing damage and restoring system integrity in order to resume departures and arrivals as soon as possible.

The situation was restored to normal later that day, but passengers faced delays and chaos for the rest of the evening.