All of a sudden a bolt of lightning hit the right wing - there was a large bang and a flash

Deborah Stephens Passenger

Six fire crews were waiting for the plane as it landed at Leeds-Bradford Airport just before 1700BST on Thursday.

It is believed the pilot realised the lightning strike meant he would not be able to control the steering of the plane when it landed.

Distress call

A West Yorkshire Fire Service spokeswoman said: "We had reports of a large aircraft in distress."

"There was believed to be some problem with the hydraulics - I think it was the lightning which caused that."

Passenger Deborah Stephens, 31, a PR accounts director from Leeds, said it was terrifying.

"It was a normal flight until the descent and all of a sudden a bolt of lightning hit the right wing," she said.

"There was a large bang and a flash."

Full emergency

The pilot told passengers that the plane had been hit by lightning but there was nothing to worry about, said Miss Stephens.

"Then we went through some massive turbulence. We did a fly-by so the ground crew could check the wheels were down.

"After that the crew were called in to see the pilot. Then the pilot told us it was a full emergency."

Passengers were told to brace for an emergency landing.

"The frightening thing was looking out of the window and seeing all the emergency services there waiting for us," said Miss Stephens.

Traumatic

"When we landed we were going very fast and all over the place. But everyone got out safely.

"It was a very traumatic experience. But the pilot and the crew were fantastic. They were so calm and collected."

British Midland said some indication lights had illuminated on the flight deck when the lightning struck the plane.

"The captain decided to do a go around and inspect his instruments," a company spokeswoman told BBC News Online.

"All was fine and he came down to land."

A final report will be compiled later on Friday.

"Aircraft get struck by lightning all the time," she said.

Lightning damage rare

"Incidents where it does cause some alleged damage to the aircraft are very infrequent."

A lightning strike was given as the possible cause of last month's Iran plane crash, which killed all passengers and crew.

But a spokeswoman for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said lightning strikes were "relatively rare" as pilots tried to avoid storm clouds.

In the last 12 months there had been 24 lightning incidents among the more than two million flights in UK airspace - and in most of those an emergency was not declared.