Los Angeles, Sep 17 (IANS) Hollywood actor Ben Affleck has been scared of flying since the age of nine when a plane he was travelling in caught fire mid-air.

The ‘Gigli’ star revealed that he was once flying all alone from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington D.C., when the plane was struck by lightning, reports imdb.com.

‘The pilot came on and said, ‘One of the engines is on fire.’ So I got really scared and really nervous,’ he said.

He recalled he was in tears when a man sitting next to him tried to calm him as the plane prepared for emergency landing and also offered to stay with Affleck during the layover.

‘I’m sitting in the thing; the plane is on fire. Tears are coming to my eyes and there’s a guy sitting next to me and he goes, ‘You know, if we land, they’ll put us in a hotel. Don’t worry – you can stay with me,” he said.