A flight en route to Manchester from Guernsey was forced to make a U-turn over the English Channel after being hit by a lightning strike that knocked out some of the plane’s electronics.

The Aurigny channel islands airline carrying 69 passengers went through the massive thunderstorm Friday morning about 8:30 a.m. local time. The National Air Traffic Services said the pilot made the decision to turn back to Guernsey as a “precaution.”

After the plane was hit by the lightning bolt -- something the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration says happens to every airplane about once a year -- the Aurigny Air Services plane lost “some electrics” functions. The plane was first scheduled to divert to Southampton but this was abandoned because it would have sent the flight barrelling further into the channel storm.

An Aurigny spokesperson detailed the Friday incident to Cornwall Live: "We basically returned back to Guernsey as a precaution. It didn't affect the aircraft as such but it had to return to be checked over.”

“No emergency procedures were put in place. It returned to base without incident. We took the decision to turn around as you would do in a pretty severe thunderstorm,” the statement continued.

All 69 passengers aboard the flight were transferred to an alternative plane.

Storm