HUTCHINSON – A lightning strike damaged the main apron of the Hutchinson Airport Sunday evening.
Airport Manager Pieter Miller said he got the call from the flight control tower Sunday night.
“About 7:15 or so, I got a call from the control tower and they reported the main apron just east of the restaurant here and that it blew chunks of concrete in each direction,” Miller said.
Miller said lightning strikes happen at the airport on occasion, but the damage this strike caused was extreme.
“I wouldn’t say it happens quite often, although we have been hit by lightning lots of time out here over the years. This is the most damage that I’ve seen happen at one time,” he said. “We’ve had a couple of hits on runways and of course, all of our windsocks and things like that get hit. I’ve never actually seen it blow a 6-by-10-foot chunk up in the air.”