Lightning strike forces Scotland-bound flight into emergency landing after ‘cracking windscreen’
A LOGANAIR flight heading to Scotland was forced to make an emergency landing after a lightning strike caused a windscreen to crack.
The passenger plane was travelling from Manchester to Aberdeen this evening when a 7700 squawk code was issued, signalling an emergency onboard.
Flight LM26 departed the airport at around 4.35pm and was due to land in Aberdeen at around 5.30pm.
But it was forced to divert and return back to Manchester Airport after issuing an emergency alert just ten minutes into the flight.
An emergency squawk is used to identify an aircraft that has a possible issue and enables it to have priority over other air traffic.
Snaps from FlightRader24 show that it was forced to turn back at around 4.45pm just as it was starting to fly over Skipton.
It then turned and began flying south back towards the airport.
The plane landed at Manchester Airport shortly before 5pm.
The emergency was also shared on social media after the alarm was raised.
As the plane began to divert, crews at Flight Emergency shared the reason behind the emergency squawk.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, they said that the plane had a "cracked windscreen".
They added that this could have potentially been caused by a lightning strike.
However, it is understood that there was no threat to passenger or crew safety.
The post read: "Loganair Flight LM26 returned to Manchester a short time ago under emergency conditions due to a cracked windshield caused by a potential lightning strike".
Staff at Logainair later confirmed this was the case, adding that the plane managed to land safely and without incident.
A spokesperson said: "Loganair can confirm flight LM26 from Manchester to Aberdeen was diverted back to Manchester following a lightning strike.
"The aircraft landed as normal and our team is currently arranging onward travel for customers to reach their final destination.
"The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is of the utmost importance to us at Loganair.
"We thank our customers for their patience and understanding, and our ground crews for their assistance."