China Southern - A320 Amazing Aircraft Damage

[Flying Fox]

Not sure what happened to my initial post/link but here goes again.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/t...d-HAILSTONES-severely-damage-windshields.html

Great job by the flight crew!

 

[lowan74]

Amazing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[RooFlyer]

Strewth....

 

[samh004]

Lucky the engines didn't ingest some of that ice... or they probably did in fact!

 

[ftm]

Probably should have gone around that paint on the radar!

 

[marki]

There is a hail stone out there with paint on it ( sic)

 

[Major]

Certainly a very difficult landing. Well done

Incident: China Southern A320 near Chengdu on Jul 9th 2016, hail strike

 

[Hvr]

And for readers who cannot/don't want to open the link here is an executive summary of the story.

A China Southern Airlines plane was severely damaged during a hail storm as it descended towards its destination of Chengdu.



The battering by hailstones caused multiple cracks across both windshields, obliterating the view and forcing the pilots to fly virtually 'blind'.

Read more: China Southern Airlines pilot forced to land plane 'blind' after hailstones damaged windshields | Daily Mail Online
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[jb747]

So why did they fly into it in the first place?

 

[Major]

So why did they fly into it in the first place?

How would it show on the radar ? Would it be part of a larger storm or a small isolated incident ? What sort of warning would the crew have had ?

 

[robtemt]

My favourite part of the article, in case anyone was worried...... 'Flights scheduled for the aircraft have now been assigned to other planes.'

 

[jb747]

How would it show on the radar ? Would it be part of a larger storm or a small isolated incident ? What sort of warning would the crew have had ?

Whilst hail itself doesn't necessarily show up all that well, it does not exist in isolation, an any weather capable producing it would have been well worth avoiding.

To avoid this, or even that 'surprise' turbulence that appears to catch people out every now and then, you actually have to have the radar tuned appropriately, and you need to actually be looking at it.