An incredible video has been released that shows the moment a Delta Boeing 737 plane was struck by lightning while on the runway at an airport in Atlanta, US.

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The amateur footage, recorded by YouTube user Jack Perkins who was not able to board his flight because of a storm, shows a line of grounded planes on the a rain-soaked runway at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia.

As torrential rain drizzles on the camera lens, a lightning bolt suddenly strikes near the rudder of the white Delta Boeing 737. Perkins posted underneath the clip: "While filming the line of planes all stacked up during a ground hold in Atlanta on 8/18/15 I happened to capture this direct lightning strike on a 737."

It was not immediately clear if anyone was aboard the plane at the time of the strike. Aeroplanes have significant protection from lightning strikes because they are shielded by Faraday cages, meaning that if they are struck by lightning the electrical discharge is redistributed through an enclosure of conductive material around the exterior of the plane. Such an enclosure blocks out external static electrical fields so that passengers cannot be electrocuted and electronic systems inside the plane are preserved.