LIGHTNING over the Central Coast has hit a passenger plane, forcing it to return to Sydney airport.
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The Qantas plane was bound for Port Macquarie on Tuesday when shortly after take-off was struck on the nose by a suspected lightning strike.
It landed back in Sydney at 10.30am after already experiencing delays due to adverse weather conditions.
A Qantas spokesperson confirmed flight QF2164 was forced to turnaround after the incident, but stressed the grounding was a precautionary measure as all aircraft are built to deal with incidents such as lightning strikes.
“Aircraft are designed to withstand and fly safely when struck by lightning but it is policy that they get inspected at their arrival port after a strike,” a Qantas statement said.
“Port Macquarie does not have the engineering support required for this inspection so the flight returned to Sydney.
“At no point was the safety of the flight compromised.
“Customers have been transferred onto another flight departing shortly.”
Weather across the Central Coast and Hunter has been a mixed bag on Tuesday. Snow fell in the early morning at Barrington Tops, while Newcastle and the Port Stephens coastline was pummelled with rain for most of the day.