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Hail Breaks Airbus Windshield and Destroys Nosecone

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A Brazilian Airbus A321-200 operating as TAM airlines flight JJ-3307 had to return to Rio de Janeiro and perform an emergency landing after sustaining substantial damage upon entering an embedded thunderstorm wrought with hail. (flightclub.jalopnik.com) More...

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preacher1
preacher1 2
Kinda tore it up but makes a good case to stay out of the wx. He shouldn't have been out there without the radar anyway.
yr2012
matt jensen 1
That wasn't hail - it was a boulder or he kissed the wall
DSchultz101
I hope they called Ace Ventura to taxi that plane into the ramp..........open up the side window, stick your head out, and Let's Go!
preacher1
preacher1 2
Don't think that would have worked real well at 18000ft.
Bernie20910
Bernie20910 1
Dang...!
bentwing60
bentwing60 1
Like to see what the front end of the motors looked like.
bbabis
bbabis 1
It happens! The decision to depart was the first link in the chain. It's hard to tell the sequence of events from the poorly written report but lightning, hail, and turbulence tend to all arrive at the same time with thunderstorm penetration at altitude.
preacher1
preacher1 3
Yeah, I can't tell from the story if the radar was already out from a previous lightning strike or was knocked out from this one.
We were readying to leave FSM one day going to LAX in our 707. Storm moving in from the NW. Tower said move or a coming ground stop would probably shut things down about an hour. I stopped the gabfest going on planeside and got all on board as engines started turning. Straight out to the runway and a sharp turn just after gear. A dip to the South and we were in the clear. Sometimes you just gotta make that Winnebago act like a 'Vette. LOL
yr2012
matt jensen 1
You're too funny dude
bbabis
bbabis 1
Nothing wrong with taking a clear out and being on your way. Simply taking off hoping to find an out often shows up in statistics.
I used to get into FSM quite a bit when the company I was with built a plant in Van Buren. Serious weather often affected our trips. Later I flew out of there for a month while helping the ABF guys get checked out on a new jet. One of my favorite airports.
preacher1
preacher1 1
We were up at the West End, just off 7. You know how that wx can be up there. Look across the NW and see nothing but solid black. Look South and see open sky. That is what we did that day, out and right down 7 with a turnback to the West toward LAX. We scooted South a little. It was a fairly shallow line and a few miles out into OK we were back on track. The only thing that bothered me about that airport, and it's still that way, is that you are basically hit by 3 centers, depending on direction. It is actually under control of MEM and is fine if you are going East, but if you are West or Northbound, you hit Ft Worth or KC before you get to your FL. Which ABF jet did you check them out on and when?

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