Originally Posted by
silvertate
The radar and Wx radar plot on Av Herald would suggest that the captain DID divert around the weather.
They appear to be threading between two storm cells, to avoid a very leangthy diversion. So it may be that they were hit by anvil-hail, which is very hard to spot on the Wx radar.
Tate
Except we know the reason given for this event is that they couldn't divert because they weren't allowed to. Also reports of severe turbulence and the damage meaning this is likely a write off implies they were in the storm rather than just getting hit by some hail. Since the pilots requested a diversion, it seems they saw it on their radar. And flew into it, essentially relying on nothing but luck that they wouldn't kill everyone. I feel for the passengers, o cannot imagine how terrifying it would have been.