PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - DAL1889 Diverts, Hail Damage
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Old 9th Aug 2015, 22:45
  #26 (permalink)  
Chris Scott
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Blighty (Nth. Downs)
Age: 77
Posts: 2,107
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I'm with Pontius Navigator and others on this one: the images available here show little or no sign of damage to the starb'd engine intake or wing L/E. Very odd, but we await better pictures.

Re the nose cone, experience suggests that once the paint and surface of the composite is breached, and the honeycomb underneath exposed (and maybe saturated), the structure is too fragile to withstand the dynamic pressure at cruise IAS. Hence it has collapsed like a ping-pong ball and into the radar antenna.

I wonder if they opened one of the D/V windows for the landing, neither of which look damaged. (That would require cabin depressurisation, of course.)
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