A big dent created by....snow

[punkalouver]

Kuwait Airways plane damaged by 'sudden impact of snow'

https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/travel/kuwait-airways-plane-damaged-by-sudden-impact-of-snow-1.852123


Pilots managed to land safely despite the aircraft suffering extensive nose damage

Kuwait Airways wishes to clarify, that its Airbus plane (A320) operated for its flight (KU501) departed to Beirut on Sunday morning 21/4/2019 was hit by a sudden impact of a mass of snow passing. Thankfully the plane landed safely at Rafiq Hariri International Airport in Beirut

[GordonR_Cape]

I don't know the cause, but it was definitely not snow, and ice or hail seems equally unlikely.

Either some sort of bird-strike, or structural failure of the nose-cone?

[Loose rivets]

Zooming right in that's the most peculiar damage I've ever seen. As far as I can see, the curled out strip has a smaller curled out strip in it. What is that blue thing?

I can't get the definition needed, but the whole under-area of the nose seems to be discoloured. No blood in the dent.

[olandese_volante]

the whole under-area of the nose seems to be discoloured
Lighting artifact.
If you look at the third / last photograph you see what looks like a large reddish stain on the tarmac. Likely not related to the incident, but its diffuse reflection on the white fuselage is what gives the fuselage a reddish tinge in the photograph. Crappy cellphone camera and jpeg compression make it appear even more pronounced especially in the first pic.

[WingNut60]

Zooming right in that's the most peculiar damage I've ever seen. As far as I can see, the curled out strip has a smaller curled out strip in it. What is that blue thing?

I can't get the definition needed, but the whole under-area of the nose seems to be discoloured. No blood in the dent.

It looks like an attachment point for an earth strap to me.

[Auxtank]

Something mechanical has hit that, punching through it then reversing hastily backwards and away, red-faced and praying CCTV didn't catch it.

[bia botal]

Something mechanical has hit that, punching through it then reversing hastily backwards and away, red-faced and praying CCTV didn't catch it.

Totally agree, only a bird strike can do that sort of damage airborne, and I’ve never known a bird to back out again tearing metal with it!

High lifter or loader most likely or they managed to taxi into the airbridge. Stranger things have happened!

[jimjim1]

Zooming right in that's the most peculiar damage I've ever seen. As far as I can see, the curled out strip has a smaller curled out strip in it. What is that blue thing?
I can't get the definition needed, but the whole under-area of the nose seems to be discoloured. No blood in the dent.

I dug around a bit and found this higher resolution image. (Edit - Hmm, perhaps not any more information in it than in the published image?)

Perhaps when the dome was pushed in the pressure pulse blew out the "peeled open" portion that is now sticking out? Perhaps combined with some mechanical injury to something inside?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1160x2000/kuwait_airways_airbus_damaged_by_hailstones_4c9a883bbf82449f c95227f04d73e2546d5c9f6a.jpg

[Loose rivets]

I thought the continuation of that inner strip into the dark patch was a visual artefact, but no, I guess it could be a conductor attached to the blue device.

I'm not certain about the patterning of the red. That too could be camera induced, but having experienced one of the strangest set of (repeatable) patterns created naturally when grinding, I know anything's possible.