A Southwest Airlines jet had a pretty dramatic approach to Denver International Airport (DEN), after it was struck by lightning, and the pilots lost radio communication.
In this post:
Southwest 737 has complicated landing in Denver
This incident happened on Sunday, May 25, 2025, and involves Southwest flight WN168, which operated from Tampa (TPA) to Denver (DEN). The flight was operated by a one-year-old Boeing 737 MAX 8 with the registration code N8887Q.
The 1,506-mile flight was mostly uneventful, until it started its approach for Denver around 8PM local time. There was bad weather in the area, including thunderstorms. While descending through around 11,000 feet on the downwind for runway 17L, the aircraft was struck by lightning.
Lightning strikes are actually pretty common, but what made this more complicated is that the pilots started to lose radio communication. Following the lightning strike, the pilot transmissions didn’t go through correctly. As a result, the air traffic controller declared an emergency on behalf of the pilots, and gave the Southwest jet priority landing.
The air traffic controllers did a stellar job handling the situation, giving clear instructions without being overbearing, and asking the pilots to “IDENT” to confirm that they understood the instructions. The plane ended up landing in Denver around 12 minutes after the initial lightning strike.
Below you can hear the air traffic control audio from the incident. What’s wild is that the Southwest jet wasn’t even the only one to suffer a lightning strike, as a plane just before that had the same issue, but didn’t lose communication. I did get a little chuckle from the air traffic controller asking for “fuel onboard and souls remaining” (rather than fuel remaining and souls onboard, or vice versa).
For the nearly three days since the incident, the aircraft has remained grounded. It’s scheduled to reenter service as of tomorrow, May 29, but we’ll see if that sticks. Obviously there’s some maintenance work that needs to be performed.
Over at The Aviation Herald, some commenters make an interesting observation. Its pointed out how usually if a lightning strike causes communication issues, it burns out the receiver antenna, which in theory would also impact the ability to hear instructions. So it’s a good thing that this wasn’t the case, because that would’ve made this even more complicated.
Aircraft lightning strikes are surprisingly common
While the Southwest 737 ultimately landed safely without any injuries, it’s worth noting that this was one of the more problematic lightning strike incidents we’ve seen. Aircraft suffer lightning strikes all the time, so if you do end up on a flight with a lightning strike, it’s not something you should be all too worried about. I think some people picture that if they’re on a plane struck by lightning, it’ll be like something out of “The Twilight Zone.”
Over the years, I’ve been on several flights that have been struck by lighting. The sound can certainly be scary and catch people off guard, but aside from that, the flights could continue as usual, without any issues.
Bottom line
A Southwest Boeing 737 MAX suffered a lightning strike while on approach to Denver. While that happens with some frequency, what made this noteworthy is that the aircraft subsequently lost radio communication, and the pilots were no longer able to transit audio. Fortunately the air traffic controller declared an emergency on behalf of the pilots, and the jet touched down safely several minutes later.
What do you make of this Southwest 737 lightning strike situation?
@Ben in the "Bottomline" you write "no longer able to transit audio." I think you mean "transmit audio."
Of course it was a brand new Boeing. Someone probably found a way of saving $1 by making the radio equipment shield thinner, and the Boeing bean counters thought it was a great idea and even awarded an employee of the month badge for it.
What is the backup for full loss of communication? It used to be flares? in VFR?
There is the ability to use cell phones? Do airports have a plan for this in the case of total loss? Is this available as part of a backup plan?
I wondered this, too. I thought maybe something with the aircraft lights? Maybe a port-starboard-port-starboard flashing sequence is the visual mayday. Kind of how dipping wings is a salute. Or maybe a repeated dip is a mayday, too. Would be interesting to have a pilot chime in.
We squawk 7600 for loss of comms. The only flashing lights involved are from the tower if we can't receive or can't acknowledge reception.
Being able to receive and not transmit is more common than you'd think, actually. Receive, acknowledge with IDENT, wash, rinse, repeat.
I'm curious what happens to the computer systems that the plane uses, and especially the 737 Max planes that after the crashes I seen to recall apparently rely on them to remain flight worthy?
What happens to the computers? The same thing as every other aircraft in the sky: nothing.
hats off to all the professionals that handled the situation well.
Note that a UA aircraft also had a lightning strike after SWA 168 but did not need assistance.
a SKYW flight wanted to make sure he didn't become #4.