Kennedy's jet is disabled by lightning and diverted
Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in the City & Region section Sunday misstated the time at which a plane carrying US Senator Edward M. Kennedy was struck by lightning. The plane took off from Pittsfield around 2:15 p.m. Saturday and was struck by lightning at about 2:45 p.m. The plane landed safely in New Haven just after 4 p.m.
A small jet carrying US Senator Edward M. Kennedy was struck by lightning yesterday afternoon, disabling the aircraft's electrical and communication systems, said a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, Arlene Murray.
The plane, which was on its way from Pittsfield to the 74-year-old senator's home in Hyannis, was diverted to New Haven, and Kennedy spent the night in the area. No one was injured, Murray said.
Kennedy, who was the featured commencement speaker at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams earlier in the day, departed in a Citation 550 twin-engine eight-passenger jet from Pittsfield Municipal Airport about 2:45 p.m., on his way to Hyannis to spend Mother's Day with his family, Melissa Wagoner, his press secretary, said last night.
Lightning struck the jet at approximately 4 p.m., Murray said. The electrical and communication systems were disabled and the pilot manually guided the aircraft to Tweed New Haven Regional Airport in Connecticut, landing safely at 4:11 p.m., Murray said.
Wagoner said Kennedy did not appear shaken. However, the Massachusetts Democrat stayed in Connecticut for the night because he was to speak at Springfield College's commencement in Massachusetts today.
John Hansman, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said incidents like the one yesterday are ''not uncommon, particularly in weather like this."
In a phone interview, Hansman said that while pilots generally use onboard weather equipment to navigate around storms, planes can be struck if a storm is close by. At risk, he said, are parts of the radar system and fuel tanks. ''The airplanes are in principle designed to take it," he said, adding that testing is done with lightning to ensure that the planes can withstand the impact.
Murray said the aircraft will be tested to see if there was permanent damage. But she said any damage must not have been significant or the jet could not have landed safely.
The jet is registered to Boston Air Charter, a private firm based in Norwood.
It could not be determined last night whether there were other passengers aboard the aircraft, and neither Wagoner nor anyone else interviewed last night could identify the pilot or give other details about the incident.
The prominent Massachusetts family has had a tragic history of accidents and death. Kennedy himself was seriously injured in a plane crash in Western Massachusetts in 1964 when his twin-engine private plane crashed in an apple orchard. The pilot, Edward Zimny, and a Kennedy aide, Edward Moss, were both killed. Kennedy suffered fractured ribs, three broken vertebrae, and other internal injuries.
President John F. Kennedy, one of the senator's older brothers, was assassinated in November 1963 while riding in a presidential motorcade in Dallas. In 1968, another brother, Robert F., who had served as attorney general and was running for president, was assassinated after giving a speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
In 1944, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the eldest brother, was killed when his plane exploded as he flew a mission during World War II.
Kennedy's nephew, John F. Jr., was killed in July 1999 when a plane he was piloting crashed 7 miles off Martha's Vineyard. His wife, Carolyn, and her sister were also killed.
In 1969, Senator Kennedy was driving a 1967 Oldsmobile when it went off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, near Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard. Mary Jo Kopechne, a passenger, was killed.
In 1973, Joseph Kennedy II, the senator's nephew, was involved in a Cape Cod car accident that left a passenger paralyzed.
Globe correspondents Emma Stickgold and Nathan Hurst contributed to this report. 
