A massive hailstorm caused major damage to an Australian Airlines plane during its flight from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to Vienna, Austria on Sunday.
According to Austrian Airlines, which released a statement to ABC News, Flight OS434 “hit a ‘thunderstorm cell'” with hail that damaged the cockpit windows and coverings. In fact, part of the nose of the plane even fell off.
“I think we were about 20 minutes from landing when we got into a cloud of hail and thunderstorm, and the turbulence started,” passenger Emmeley Oakley told ABC News. “We could definitely feel the hail coming down on the plane and it was quite loud and [of course] super rocky for a minute.”
According to the airline, the cockpit crew did not notice any visible storms on the radar. However, once the plane encountered severe weather and the plane was damaged, they called Mayday.
Australian Airline Plane Experienced Major Damage From a Massive Hailstorm Mid-Flight
The flight’s journey through the hailstorm only lasted for about two minutes. However, it sent phones and cups flying around the plane, according to Oakley. Additionally, many people were panicking and screaming.
“The cabin crew did a really good job calming those people down though,” Oakley wrote.
Thankfully, the plane landed at Vienna-Schwechat Airport with no reported injuries.
“It was a pretty uneventful flight for 90% of the trip,” Oakley said. “It wasn’t until we exited that we saw the nose was missing! The pilots really did an excellent job keeping things as smooth and safe as they could.”
Amid the countless airline issues going on lately, many users shared their — quite conflicting — thoughts on X.
“Great news that you were able to land safely despite the challenging weather conditions,” one person wrote. “Kudos to the pilots 👏.”
“Tracks with my experience with many LH-trained pilots: not taught a healthy respect for thunderstorms,” another stated. “Little icy cannonballs moving at 250-ish knots relative velocity should be avoided at all costs.”
“Also, pilots are supposed to be there for a reason, not just flip switches in the big, winged video game console. Would be interested in pics of the leading edges…”