The Austrian Airlines flight from Palma de Mallorca in Spain to Vienna in Austria was caught in a hail storm, causing major damage to the Airbus A320.
An Austrian Airlines plane was heavily damaged by hail this Sunday, the Austrian company announced to ABC News, the American television network.
Flight OS434 was traveling from Palma de Mallorca in Spain to Vienna in Austria when it was caught in a thunderstorm. The hail caused significant damage to the cockpit windows and windshields. Finally, part of the nose of the Airbus A320 was torn off.
180 passengers were on board for this journey which normally lasts two hours.
“We could feel the hail hitting the plane”
One passenger told ABC News via text: “We could feel the hail hitting the plane, it was very strong and of course very rocky for a minute.” According to the same Source, phones and cups were thrown into the plane during this passage in the storm.
Despite the somewhat complicated last minutes of the flight, the plane landed normally at Vienna-Schwechat airport and no casualties or injuries were reported. Operations to assess damage to the aircraft are underway.
The storm cell in which the plane was caught on approach to Vienna was not visible from onboard weather radars.
