I was flying home from Madrid about ten years ago after a summer holiday in the city, and the weather for the entire period had been extremely hot and dry as you can imagine. But on the day I was coming back, a storm was brewing, the type that I always associate with places like Spain and Italy, where it pours and pours with huge amounts of lightning.
The weather got really bad when we were at our gate, and by the time we were on the plane itself it was one of the most ferocious storms I've experienced. I was fairly certain that they were going to give up, because the plane was shaking just sat at the terminal.
They carried on however, and on the way up the storm was getting even worse. Huge amounts of turbulence, the worst I've ever experienced (I don't fly very much but it still seemed hard to beat) with the plane feeling like it was dropping a few metres at a time. Once we'd reached above the clouds, we were just flying in circles, which was strange. Then the pilot announced over the radio
>we had some technical problems on the way up, we're unfortunately going to have to land back in Madrid once we're allowed
So we circled for about an hour again, before finally flying back down to the airport in weather that was a lot more calm. I thought we were going to just sit tight and then head back up again, but once we'd landed, the pilot announced
>we were struck by lightning on the way up, and the windows in the cockpit have been damaged, you can come and see on your way out if you'd like, thank you all for remaining calm despite this
On the way out, I looked and Jesus Christ the entire front windscreen was cracked from left to right. A huge branching crack all the way along it. The crew looked visibly upset.
Looking back, I am so impressed by how they stayed calm in a terrifying situation for them, and didn't let on until we were all safe on land again.
