--- title: Kate Middleton and Prince William's Forced to Turn Back in Thunderstorm description: A severe thunderstorm forced an RAF Voyager plane carrying Kate Middleton and Prince William to abort a landing in Pakistan on Thursday. canonical: https://time.com/5703776/kate-middleton-prince-william-pakistan-plane-thunderstorm/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-10-17T19:07:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:03.194Z og:title: Kate Middleton and Prince William's Plane Was Forced to Turn Around in a Thunderstorm in Pakistan og:description: A severe thunderstorm forced an RAF Voyager plane carrying Kate Middleton and Prince William to abort a landing in Pakistan on Thursday. og:url: https://time.com/5703776/kate-middleton-prince-william-pakistan-plane-thunderstorm/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab52829f45fc1f26/698a047516d8846f2bc37233/kate-middleton-prince-william.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Catherine-Middleton-Prince-William-Pakistan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kate Middleton and Prince William's Plane Was Forced to Turn Around in a Thunderstorm in Pakistan twitter:description: A severe thunderstorm forced an RAF Voyager plane carrying Kate Middleton and Prince William to abort a landing in Pakistan on Thursday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab52829f45fc1f26/698a047516d8846f2bc37233/kate-middleton-prince-william.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kate Middleton and Prince William's Plane Forced to Turn Around in a Thunderstorm in Pakistan > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Oct 17, 2019 7:07 PM UTC  Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visit the Badshahi Mosque on Oct. 17, 2019 in Lahore, Pakistan. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a visit of Pakistan between 14-18th Oct. at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visit the Badshahi Mosque on Oct. 17, 2019 in Lahore, Pakistan. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a visit of Pakistan between 14-18th Oct. at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Samir Hussein—WireImage  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Oct 17, 2019 7:07 PM UTC A severe thunderstorm forced a plane carrying [Kate Middleton](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745%5F2102133%5F2102333,00.html) and [Prince William](http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2117681,00.html) to abort a landing while flying in Pakistan on Thursday, reports say. The royals, who are on a four-day official visit to the country, were flying from Lahore to Islamabad when thunder and lightning disrupted their journey, according to reporters who were also on board the flight. Although the flight was expected to last just 25 minutes, the plane was forced to stay in the air for two hours before turning back to Lahore, according to [_People_](https://people.com/royals/kate-middleton-and-prince-williams-plane-turned-around-by-terrifying-electrical-storm-in-pakistan/). People correspondent Simon Perry wrote on Twitter that he was on board the flight and called the storm “terrifying.” “Lightning seemed to be crashing around the right wing,” Perry wrote. > [](https://twitter.com/SPerryPeoplemag/status/1184853371083264001) He identified the aircraft as an Royal Air Force (RAF) Voyager. The plane, which features a “defensive suite,” can be operated as an air-to-air refueling tanker, or can be used as a passenger aircraft, according to the [Royal Air Force](https://www.raf.mod.uk/aircraft/voyager/).  The RAF Voyager aircraft on Oct. 17, 2019 in Lahore, Pakistan. Pool—Getty Images Prince William, who served in the [Royal Air Force](http://world.time.com/2013/09/12/prince-william-announces-he-is-leaving-his-military-job/), joked with reporters after the flight landed that he had been flying the plane, _People_ said. He said he and his wife would either spend the night in Lahore or that they would go to Islamabad in the evening. The plane is currently being refueled in Lahore, the [BBC reported](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50088391). > [](https://twitter.com/emmabowds/status/1184863729441300481) The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had spent the day meeting with people in Lahore. The couple played cricket with children from the National Cricket Academy; visited with children at a cancer hospital; and visited the Badshahi Mosque. > [](https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1184857567484432384) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5703776/kate-middleton-prince-william-pakistan-plane-thunderstorm/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5703776/kate-middleton-prince-william-pakistan-plane-thunderstorm/"},"headline":"Kate Middleton and Prince William's Plane Forced to Turn Around in a Thunderstorm in Pakistan","datePublished":"2019-10-17T19:07:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:03.194Z","description":"A severe thunderstorm forced an RAF Voyager plane carrying Kate Middleton and Prince William to abort a landing in Pakistan on Thursday.","url":"https://time.com/5703776/kate-middleton-prince-william-pakistan-plane-thunderstorm/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Pakistan","royals","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab52829f45fc1f26/698a047516d8846f2bc37233/kate-middleton-prince-william.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab52829f45fc1f26/698a047516d8846f2bc37233/kate-middleton-prince-william.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Catherine-Middleton-Prince-William-Pakistan","caption":"The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge Visit The North Of Pakistan","creditText":"Samir Hussein—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5703776/kate-middleton-prince-william-pakistan-plane-thunderstorm/","name":"Kate Middleton and Prince William's Plane Forced to Turn Around in a Thunderstorm in Pakistan"}}]}] ```