Check out the damage on this 737...

[Best foot forward]

Superfly

From the Boing WX RADAR the wx radar does detect, rainfall, wet hail and wet turbulence, ice crystals dry hail and snow appear as small reflections.

[lowlimit]

I like the 185 on floats by the ice.

I imagine landing on ice is not an option. I have seen a Norseman on floats land on snow covered strip to change over to skis.

[seatofmypants]

I would have to question the pilots on that hail damaged aircraft! As far i know, flying into thunder storms is a big no no. Please correct me if i am wrong. I have seen many aircraft fly directly into cells which were very active at the time and have an ATC friend who see its regularly....mostly low cost airlines it has to be said. Who's is this aircraft....i rest my case! Having worked with low cost for a number of years, i am afraid their stance on safety is only made if there is money to make. They change theire attitudes to suit regularly, which is confusing for people working with them not to mention highly un-professional.

[Gary Lager]

seatofmyar5e - only your second post and making friends already!

It's a lot of effort but I personally feel that so many inaccurate generalisations and speculation requires wheeling out the old 'quote' button, I'm afraid:

As far i know, flying into thunder storms is a big no no

You are correct. However, how do we see where the thunderstorms are, when we're in cloud, or at night? Using weather radar, natch. Dry hail (as occurs at high altitudes), as has been mentioned before on this thread, is often not shown by radar. Hail can fall underneath the 'anvil' of a well developed storm and whilst one may be avoiding the 'painted' areas of high density water droplets, can still encounter hail.

I have seen many aircraft fly directly into cells which were very active at the time and have an ATC friend who see its regularly...

You say on a previous thread that you are an engineer, so what is your experience of seeing aircraft fly into 'thunderstorms' (Hail can be produced by CB and TCU clouds which are not yet 'thunderstorms' so I hesitate to use vague language)? From the ground? We are in no practical position to judge the severity of a storm unless looking at a weather radar or can observe the shape and extent of the cloudmass concerned. In any case, the complications caused by TS can quite different at altitude than on departure/arrival.

mostly low cost airlines it has to be said

Low cost like:

Excel
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0911365/M/

Air Transat
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0905161/M/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0186981/M/

British Airways
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0759758/M/

Aeroflot
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0470974/M/

Delta
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0439575/M/

SAS
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0293544/M/

...or could it be that every now again, correct precautions taken or not, aircraft encounter hail of a severity enough to cause damage, without predjudice to the business model of the airline.

Having worked with low cost for a number of years, i am afraid their stance on safety is only made if there is money to make

I am sure that many of us are eager to learn which airline - if you are worried about libel, you needn't be, since I'm sure that with your real interest in flight safety you would have reported such cases to the relevant civil aviation authority at the time, so the information ought to be in the public domain.

Many of us here work for what you would term 'low-cost' airlines, and have experienced nothing but the highest regard for flight safety and a progressive and open safety culture. It could be said that airlines with smaller fleets and less cash in the bank can least afford any kind of accident, if indeed anyone can.

Accidents and incidents happen, and mistakes are made and lessons learnt, and your interest and motivation to pursue what you perceive to be deficiencies in flight safety is admirable and to be applauded.

But the evolution of such progress will not be achieved by producing such grossly inaccurate and un-informed generalisations, which serve only to annoy those of us who should be co-operating with you in such endeavours.