Lightning punched a hole in the nose of a Denver-bound Icelandair plane this week during its departure from Keflavík International Airport outside Reykjavík, airline officials said.

It's likely no one knew the extent of the damage until the plane landed 3,740 miles later.

Airline spokesman Michael Raucheisen said told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the Boeing 757 was being evaluated after Tuesday's lightning strike. He said such strikes are common.

Musician Nathen Maxwell , who was on the plane with his band, told the Denver Post that he heard a loud bang and saw a bright flash.

"It was pretty scary."

He said the pilot announced the plane had been hit by lighting, assured passengers there was no cause for concern, and said they would continue the trip. It's likely the pilots didn't know about the nose damage.

Planes are equipped to handle such strike, Metropolitan State University of Denver aviation Professor Jeff Price, told the Post.

"If there were issues with the safety or flight worthiness of the aircraft there would have been a system notification or the pilots would have noticed the handling of the aircraft change. Neither of these were the case," Price said.

However, aviation expert Greg Feith said the flight should not have continued on its trip.

"They should have turned around," Feith told 9News. "It's a prudent thing to turn around, because you don't know what the damage is."

The strike unnerved some passengers.

"I think the entire plane may have had drinks," Maxwell told the Post. "When we got off the plane, everyone was talking about it."

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