An Austrian Airlines flight went viral this week after it flew through a hailstorm on Sunday, tearing off part of the plane's nose and shattering the cockpit windows. And one expert tells CBS News that while incidents like this are rare, they can happen very easily – and very quickly.
The incident involved Austrian Airlines Flight OS434, en route from Palma de Mallorca to Vienna, the airline told CBS News. As seen in photos shared by passengers and passers-by, the airline also confirmed that the two cockpit windows at the front and the nose of the plane, known as the radome, were damaged, as well as “some coverings.” An investigation is now underway.
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“A Mayday emergency call was made due to the damage,” an airline spokesperson said. “The plane was able to land safely at Vienna-Schwechat Airport. All passengers on the flight were unharmed.”
The spokesperson also confirmed that “the incident lasted only a few seconds”. According to meteorologist Renny Vandewege, general manager of weather and climate intelligence at DTN, that is all it takes to cause damage.
He told CBS News that “because of the high speed of an aircraft, the hail does not have to be that large to cause damage to an aircraft.”
“The radar dome, near the nose of the aircraft, is particularly vulnerable due to the thin material used in that part of the aircraft,” he said. “Because of the aircraft's speed, just a five-second exposure to a hail shaft can shatter noses and cockpit windows.”
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However, he only added a few airplanes ever get caught in hail shafts due to the onboard radar systems. In most situations, these types of weather systems are avoided, he said.
Austrian Airlines told CBS News that the situation arose on Sunday after the plane encountered a thunder cell while approaching Vienna, and that “according to the flight crew [it] was not visible on the weather radar.” Single cell thunderstormsAccording to NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory, they are “small, short, weak storms that grow and dissipate within about an hour” and are known to produce brief heavy rain and lightning.
It's the core of the thunderstorm where it can be particularly dangerous, Vandewege said, because that's where the updraft is maximum.
“It's the input of the storm's energy source, coming from the surface where the storm is taking in warm, moist air,” he said. “…These updrafts allow storms to produce hail because they can circulate ice up and down with the storm until it is too heavy to circulate. Therefore, the storms with the strongest updrafts can produce the largest hail. ”
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If global temperatures are risingThis also applies to the frequency and intensity of extreme weather, including thunderstorms. And although flying through hail can quickly be harmful, Vandewege says this does not mean that flying is not safe.
He told CBS News that construction materials are “continually evolving” to make planes “lighter and stronger,” and that the information and technology used to avoid hail shafts is also making significant advances.
“Of course, it is also recommended to keep your seat belt on, light or not,” he said. “…Given the level of advancement in evasion technology, I don't think there is any more reason to fear thunderstorm safety than before. In fact, the past was more dangerous because we relied on weaker technology for evasion .”
