Airport Lightning Strike Injures Flight Controller, BWI Airport Closes For Hours
The Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport’s traffic control tower was struck by lightning on Thursday afternoon. One person was injured, and the airport was closed for more than three hours, causing massive disruption to flights.
The bolt, which struck the tower at 2.30 pm., shocked one of the workers in the control tower as he flipped a switch to turn on a backup generator.
John Dunkerly, president of BWI’s chapter of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, spoke about the incident. He said the man, who was not identified, fell to his knees from the force of the strike and had no feeling in his left arm and leg. The injured man was released from the hospital on Thursday night.
To prevent the possibility of further injuries, the tower was shut down, forcing airport officials to divert all incoming flights and ground all departures.
“We didn’t have any idea why it happened. Usually [the towers] are pretty safe during these storms.” Dunkerly said. Mark Levine who was flying Delta said: “The plane spent more than two hours on the runway without air conditioning before returning to a gate,”
Steve Sarkady, who was working in the area, said about the airport lightning strike: “We heard a couple loud booms around the airport. It actually felt like it hit the plane.”
Scores of flights were cancelled as travelers scrambled to make alternative travel arrangements. Lines at ticketing desks at the International airport were massive, causing great inconvenience to many people.
A full investigation by the airport’s authority will be carried out in the coming days to ascertain how airport lightning strikes like the one at BWI can be avoided in the future.
