Jet aircraft can safely fly over thunderstorms only if their flight altitude is well above the turbulent cloud tops. The most intense and turbulent storms are often the tallest storms, so en route flights always seek to go around them.

Commercial aircraft in 2026 are marvels of engineering, but they almost never fly through the core of a thunderstorm. Instead, pilots use sophisticated onboard "Convective Weather Radar" and satellite data to fly around, over, or away from the storm cells. Thunderstorms contain intense updrafts, downdrafts, and hail that can cause severe turbulence or structural damage. While planes are designed to withstand lightning strikes (which happen roughly once per year per aircraft without harm), the primary danger is wind shear and turbulence. You might see lightning out your window, but your pilot is likely maintaining a safety buffer of at least 20 nautical miles from the "red" zones on their radar. If a storm is directly over an airport, flights will hold or divert because the risk of a "microburst" during takeoff or landing is too high. So, while you may fly near a storm, you are almost certainly skirting the edges rather than diving through the center.