Lightning strike HYD

Do you know what is Diwali? It is a Hindu festival of lights celebrated between mid October and mid November. And that is precisely when, as by some game of irony, during my turnaround bound to Hyderabad (India), I had a lightning strike. A whole different on board lights festival!

But lets rewind. Peaceful departure, quite a calm night flight and Crew with only cabin trolley bag, since we were supposed to go back and forth the same night. And then through the pitch black night we heard raining, visibility zero. Couple of bumps here and there, but still ok. We latch ourselves on the jumpseats, cabin is ready for landing. Except the bad weather wouldn't let us! Bumps become more intense, visibility still zero, we can all hear the rain hitting the aircraft and then BUM, a blinding white light that showed me all the puzzled faces in the cabin, a sound as when a circuit breaker pops up at home and then darkness again. No worries, all commercial airplanes are manufactured with a conductive body, such as aluminum. Even the composite planes, such as the one we were flying on, are safe as long as they have the protective mash. Shortly after our pilot announces that we will be diverting to Bangalore. Another two airlines followed our example and diverted as well. That was not an aborted landing, as we didn't even get close to the ground, but it was a go around since we announced the landing with the control tower, but then weren't able to do so, until the decision of a diversion.

We finally landed safely in Bangalore at the first lights of dawn. Spectacular morning colors and a deserved break while the lightnings engineer is checking the aircraft for a possible damage, water tank gets topped up and petrol refueled. Ready to take those passengers to their festival destination, Hyderabad. Now we had daylight and the storm was gone, so we managed to land. But by that time the Crew wasn't legal anymore to operate the flight back to base. In fact duty hours surpassed 12h already. Sooooo improvised layover was the airline's verdict.

Diwali, Hindu festival of lights

We found ourselves in Hyderabad for a ground version (and more pleasant one!) of Diwali festival of lights! Yaaaaay! Thankfully our aircraft was a Boeing 787- 3 classes, meaning that the First Class had fancy amenities like pajamas, sleepers, toothbrush and socks. Just enough for our 13h layover.  But since then I have learned that some items are just essential to have on every single flight, just in case some unexpected situation like this happens! 

Make a list: t-shirt, leggins, flip flops, extra panties, toothbrush and paste, comb, make up, wet wipes, charger, little bag, tablet and a book!