A confession from the flight deck:

When the storms ahead are really firing at night, we turn the cockpit lights all the way up.

Counter-intuitive, you'd think dim is better but bright lights keep our eyes adapted, so the next bolt doesn't blind us.

And then we watch.

A thunderstorm at night from FL370, with the right distance between us and it, is one of the most beautiful sights in this job. Cells lighting up from inside like paper lanterns. The whole horizon flashing white, then black, then white again.

We're not white-knuckled up there. We're often quietly grinning.

The full piece is live for FlightDeck Club members — the 5-step framework, the radar apps we use, a printable Storm-Day Checklist for nervous flyers and the one stat that should change how you think about lightning forever.👇🏻