Above: Flight path after being struck by lightning.
I had trouble getting to sleep last night and had to wake around 0600 to prepare for the 1030 flight.
The included breakfast at 0615 looked amazing. However, quite a few things didn’t pass the taste test. The chicken was hacked Asian style with lots of bones and the sauce, and the nasi lemak sambal weren’t tasty.
However, there were plenty of other things and I didn’t leave hungry. Not that I felt like eating at that time.
I left the hotel at 0730, needing to get to Terminal 1 about 1 minute train ride away. However, the walking distances outside and inside the terminal, plus waiting for the train meant that it took about 20 mins in total.
I joined the long queue for Batik Air Malaysia’s bagdrop but it cleared quickly in 15 mins. I was able to get some more food airside in the lounge before the 1030 flight to Singapore.
My flight to Auckland tonight departs at 1830 tonight, meaning that I have a 7h self-connect. But with a small delay to my flight from Kuala Lumpur into Singapore, walking time in Changi etc, I only had 3h15 to kill before the onward flight opened for check-in (3h prior to departure).
I killed about half that time at the Jewel, a very nice mall with a waterfall atrium adjoining the airport main terminals. Then the other half in the basement food court on the computer.
At the Jewel at Singapore airport.
At 1615 I thought it would be a safe enough time to enquire about standby check-in at the counter. Sadly, it wasn’t a good day and they asked me to return at 1700, which was 90 mins prior to departure.
With further complications waiting for connecting passengers, my boarding pass wasn’t issued till 1730, an hour before departure. I promptly made my way to A19, one of the further gates not accessible by the train service within the terminal.
I was seated in the B seat between a Cambodian couple. I was happy when I could take the aisle seat so that they were together. We departed on time but 15 mins after take-off, I heard thunder and saw a big flash.
I knew that we had been struck by lightning and kept monitoring the TV screen in front of me, to see if the plane was making a U-turn back to Singapore. The inflight manager made an announcement that we would be holding altitude but there was no other information.
On the screen, our aircraft merely departed from its path. It wasn’t clear-cut as to whether it was a slow turn or just a deviation, perhaps to avoid bad weather.
About 20 mins after the lightning strike, the Captain announced that we had indeed ben struck by lightning. However, having performed all their checks we were good to proceed to Auckland.