The flight path of Air New Zealand flight NZ621. Image: FlightradarAbout 10 minutes before landing at Queenstown Airport there was a loud bang, a flash of white light, and for a few seconds Edward Guy thought it was all over. "I thought the engine had blown up and fallen off," said Guy, a passenger on one of two Air New Zealand flights struck by lightning just out of Queenstown yesterday. As flight NZ621 on route from Auckland started to descend, the plane first struck some heavy turbulence. "As we came through the thick clouds there was some pretty heavy turbulence," Guy said.

Source: Otago Daily Times May 20, 2018 21:45 UTC