A plane carrying 30 passengers almost plunged into the sea off Shetland after it was struck by lightning, an official report has revealed.
The Loganair Saab 2000 G-LGNO plummeted 2,900ft after being hit by a bolt of lightning near Sumburgh Airport on December 15.
Believing the strike had disabled the aircraft’s autopilot system, the captain attempted to turn its nose upwards.
But the aircraft, which had three crew, did not respond as expected and after a short climb the plane pitched nose-down.
The aircraft fell to just 1100ft above sea level at a speeds of up to 9,500ft per minute.
A probe by the Air Accident Investigation Branch found that the autopilot had remained engaged and the pilot’s actions were countered by the system, causing the dive.
It is still looking into the incident – saying there was no technical malfunction – but said: “(On December 15), the flight crew decided to discontinue their approach to Sumburgh airport because of deteriorating weather ahead.
“After turning and establishing on a southerly heading the aircraft was struck by lightning. The commander made nose-up pitch inputs but perceived that the aircraft did not respond as expected.
“After reaching 4000ft (above sea level), the aircraft pitched nose-down and the applicable maximum operating speed was exceeded with a peak descent rate of 9,500ft per minute.
“The aircraft, however, started to climb after reaching a minimum height of 1,100ft (above sea level).”
After the incident, passenger Shona Manson said she had not realised how serious the incident could have been until she saw the captain “looking a little shaken”.
She said at the time: “If it was someone who’s a bad flyer, it’d be their worst nightmare. We were on descent and I said to my partner, we’re going back up again, and just as we started to go up again there was an almighty bang and a flash that went over the left wing.
“Then we were really ascending, and at that point there were a few folk looking around going ‘oh my God, what’s happening?’ The poor guy across the aisle from me just had eyes like rabbits in headlights.”