How can pilots avoid a thunderstorm or lightning?
When there is danger on the ground, an accident or road construction, people driving in a car must take a detour and go a different way than they intended. The same thing happens in the air. Pilots will fly a different path and take a long detour to try to go around a bad thunderstorm. Sometimes they can fly up high and go above the storm. But planes can’t always avoid lightning. Lightning can strike miles away from the thunderstorm. Sometimes, in fact, an airplane that flies into a cloud that already has electrical charges built up in it can create a lightning stroke.
