Walking in countryside near a small regional airport the other day, I watched as a small but bulky looking transport aircraft (military?) overflew then turned, preparing to land, I assumed. Weather was good, the odd rain shower, but otherwise calm, certainly not thundery.
Suddenly and with no warning I saw a single bolt of lightning from a raincloud strike the aircraft, pass through it, and strike to ground. I exclaimed to my walking companions "he's been hit by lightning". They'd not seen it and looked unconvinced until, a moment later, a loud thunderclap convinced them.
There were no further lightning strikes on my walk and unsurprisingly, the plane seemed oblivous to the strike. Not entirely sure though, why the presence of an aircraft should provoke a lightning strike when not in an actual thunderstorm?