I'm not sure if we had been struck. Not sure if I would they would have told us if it was. I was flying from Denver to Bismark ND on a small 20 passanger turbo prop (propeller plane). It was a bad storm and because of the size of the plane it couldn't get altitude above the storm like large jets. Lighting was crashing around us all over and everytime the lights would flicker on and off in the plane. We where rocking back and forth and up and down with BOOM BOOM from the lightning. Honestly I was scared shitless.

N0, because Im afraid of flying.

Lightning strikes happen to planes rather frequently. In fact, most aircraft are routinely struck by lightning about once a year. In 99.9% of all cases, its harmless and can even go unnoticed by the crew and passengers. Pilots and air traffic control are also trained to avoid conditions in which lightning strikes may occurr. Its impossible to completely avoid it everytime, so the inevitable does occurr. I actually witnessed one last summer. I was the captain of a short flight from Ohio to Michigan. It was toward the end of the day and there were some storms in northern Ohio, roughly the spot where we begin to descend. We had the autoflight systems engaged as the plane was descending. I was giving the landing briefing, looking down at some paperwork on my lap. At that moment we saw a bright flash in front of us and a barely audible bump. A few warning lights flashed on and off but the autopilot stayed engaged. Another happened when I was a first officer on a night cargo flight in the 747. It was a similar situation, we were at cruising altitude and I was just walking back into the cockpit after getting my lunch from the cooler. I saw the flash and the conversation went: Captain: Did you see that? Me: Yeah was that lightning? Captain: I don't know Me: Any warning lights? Captain: No... but is my lunch still in the cooler back there? Me: Yeah, I saw it. As you can see, its not a big deal and nothing to worry about. Oftentimes after lightning strikes, a little black smudge will be found on the aircraft, as was the case with both of these. Maintenance found a very tiny black mark just behind the wing on the first instance. The second instance you could see a very distinct black line just under the cockpit windshield. It's quite harmless.

No,Im scard of flyin.