DAL1889 Diverts, Hail Damage
 

Delta 1889 BOS-SLC diverts to DEN after flying through hail storm.

Tweet from passenger showing damage to front of the plane:
https://twitter.com/rwessman/status/629852479547531268

Story:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/delta-plane...ry?id=32964286

http://i.imgur.com/fvb276P.jpg

Wow, you get some nasty weather over there :ooh:

Extraordinary nose and Windows damaged and engine and wing pristine.

Even if the engines look pristine, a full inspection of the fan, and a borescope inspection of the compressor section are in order.

I would like to hear from the crew their advice on making a successful landing and taxi in. Did they make an autoland etc? We can all learn something.

Sure can, avoid thunderstorms.

Thats another Delta aircraft completely :mad: by flying through a TS.

At least some of the news reports indicated that the aircraft "flew through" a thunderstorm, but looking at at the Flightaware track of this flight, it appears they did not fly through any cells. They diverted along the south side of a line of level 6 storms extending from northeastern Colorado into Kansas and Nebraska.

Not far enough south evidently. Intense hail is a real possibility beneath the anvils of supercell thunderstorms - even many miles from the main core of the cells.

Rat, According to the ATC traffic, the pilots requested autoland...

Is that a hailstone actually embedded in the dent in the crunched radome? I can't think of any part of the radar kit that normally looks like a rock.

They do (very rarely) get that big in our Great Plains supercells. Largest actually documented (so far) was about 8"/200mm, even after some melting before recovery.

NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Monitoring & Understanding Our Changing Planet

As someone who lives in Denver, I can attest that it is quite common in this area to get hail well outside the anvil of one of these beasts - even to the extent that the hail "curtains" are lit up by the westering sun and produce "hailbows."

http://myzone.saferetirementst.netdn...302.jpg?135282

Now, that's at ground level - I have no idea what the updrafts can spit out, and how far, at cruise level.

Just flew into Denver today (as pax) and we were dodging supercells that towered above us even at FL360.

As to the apparent disparity in damage - well, glass is glass, and I'm betting most of the paint removal on the radome was simply the thin aerodynamic shell flexing under the impacts and popping the paint loose.

Typical of media reporting, the aircraft was reported, on the video I saw, as a 747. And it was brought in on the skill of the tower controllers. :ugh:

Still lots to learn about TRW deviations and Radars
 

Another fortunate successful diversion landing after a hail encounter. Thankfully we also have good autoland systems. But apparently, there is still more to learn about WX deviations, TRWs, radar characteristics, and radar performance. Even some of the the most recent WXRs, in the latest production jets, still have known "issues", and require care in their use. Anybody know which WXR they were using on this A320?

[Ref: Hail encounters... from Southern 242; DC-9-31; N1335U; executed a forced landing on a highway in New Hope, Georgia, United States after suffering hail damage and losing thrust on both engines in a severe thunderstorm on April 4, 1977, ....to the more recent B747-400 N664US "Spirit of Beijing" crossing the NoPac, into Korea].

Pattern_Is_Full

Looking at the amount of damage that radome has suffered I would say that what you can see is actually the face of the radar dish itself.

Have a look at this picture of an a320 undergoing a major maintenance check. With the nose lifted up to allow access to the radar and look at the protector strips (not sure of the exact technical name sorry, but thats what they're for :}) of the bottom one which is exactly in the middle at the top of the radome on this picture, and compare them to how much they have been bent and warped in the damaged photo.

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_3089.jpg


It looks to me by the ammount that these have been bent that the radome has actually been punctured allowing access to the radar dish.

Regards

Speedbird

Did it bump the terminal ??

I've seen some GA types with similar damage, but I'm surprised at the drivers glass state.

Captain: You watch the radar no 1

Co-pilot: Umm! Wot is the distance from a severe CB sir ??

Captain: Oh golf balls (Might have been lost Australian cricket ball size looking at the screen marks) !!

PS: Oh Pitfa! I'm going to have to fly to DFW from ZRH via some place in the USA as self loading fright next month. Delta are real good in cabin terms (Much better food and service than BA in cattle class), so perhaps it was an ATC issue or just dropped from the CB Gods.
Love the 747 report from the press, cos it's no B anything (A 320).

I'm surprised they parked at a terminal gate in full view of the public.

Not a good look.

A remote gate may have been a better idea.....

According to the same guy that took the picture, he referenced a 'sort of hole' above the engine where lightning struck.

Delta Airlines flight from Boston lands in Denver after hail damage | Fox News

Speedbird - I think you're correct.

Speedbird

They are lightning diverter strips, or that is what I have always known them as anyway. I also suspect that you are correct, and that the radome has been completely punched through and the scanner is visible.

Radome depression has a nice circle on it. Radome pushed back into antennae would be my guess. Hole shows the antennae.

I think the hail-damage on the Easy 737 was worse. Any images of the leading edges on this one?

http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/v...aildamage3.jpg