China Southern Airlines A380 Hail Damage

[Flying Fox]

Amazing photos. Glad I wasn't on that flight.

HAILSTONES shatter an Airbus A380's windscreen

The China Southern Airlines flight from Guangzhou Baiyun International was en-route to Beijing Capital International Airport at 37,000 feet when the glass shattered.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[jb747]

That would have been LOUD.

To be honest though, damage to the windows and radome is of passing interest only. I want to see the engines!

 

[Quickstatus]

@jb747
Must be hail with a large mass therefore size to do that. What size would that be at cruise? Do you remember the parameters involved in aircraft windshields rating?

What are the landing issues?. Can’t see = autoland if available?. And if autoland not available?

 

[jb747]

@jb747
Must be hail with a large massage therefore size to do that. What size would that be at cruise? Do you remember the parameters involved in aircraft windshields rating?

Hail doesn't really exist at cruising levels. Not to say it can't, but I'd love to see the meteorology that went with this event.

What are the landing issues?. Can’t see = autoland if available?. And if autoland not available?

Autoland can be done at any airport with an ILS. It may not be certified for it, but it will work about 99.9% of the time. And if it's not available...flare when the rad alt calls 40'.

 

[odysseus]

Like above, I'd imagine that would have been very noisy to hear.

The other thing was I hadn't realised an A380 was used for regular domestic operations. This is the first I'd heard of.

 

[docjames]

The weather/forecast/radar from the time would be interesting. One wonders about either the decision to either push on with poor weather as it seems hard to imagine it would be completely “unexpected” large hail (what were other aircraft / airlines in the vicinity doing at that time) or whether risk of hail was appreciated (+/- ignored)?

 

[Quickstatus]

From AVHerald

They must have flown through a coughulonimbus cloud or a Convective cloud with hail.

Why they would fly through such cloud in daylight when they could have seen and gone around it? Maybe there was no way around it?

 

[Aus ATC]

I wonder if off track diversions (around the weather) are a challenge in China as the military controls large blocks of airspace with limited corridors for civil aircraft. That said, if it looked that bad on the weather radar wouldn't you just squawk 7700 and divert anyway!

 

[jb747]

They must have flown through a coughulonimbus cloud or a Convective cloud with hail.

Not necessarily. They may have simply been downwind of such a cloud.

Hail does not normally exist at cruising levels. It forms much lower, and that's also where most hail encounters happen.

Why they would fly through such cloud in daylight when they could have seen and gone around it? Maybe there was no way around it?

Daylight doesn't mean much when you're in cloud. And radar sees moisture. Hail is effectively 'dry', so it doesn't show up all that well on radar.

I wonder if off track diversions (around the weather) are a challenge in China as the military controls large blocks of airspace with limited corridors for civil aircraft. That said, if it looked that bad on the weather radar wouldn't you just squawk 7700 and divert anyway!

Different mindset. And who's to say it looked all that bad anyway.

 

[jb747]

Some interesting discussion on another forum (not prune). From a bloke who contract flew in that part of the world. Apparently there is a belief that the weather radar has nasty effects upon ones' gonads, so many habitually fly with it turned off.

 

[docjames]

Some interesting discussion on another forum (not prune). From a bloke who contract flew in that part of the world. Apparently there is a belief that the weather radar has nasty effects upon ones' gonads, so many habitually fly with it turned off.

Concerning if even partially true.....

 

[Major]

 

[Major]

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