Hailfall wreaks havoc on Austrian A320 airplane's nose.
In Austria, a terrible weather incident unfolded on Sunday. While on a return journey from Mallorca, an Austrian Airlines Airbus had to traverse a hailstorm. The plane's crew issued an emergency call, and after landing safely in Vienna, the passengers encountered horrifying sights.
The hailstorm wreaked havoc on the Airbus, demolishing its nose and shattering the windshield, as well as breaking some cover panels. The devastation was captured by a passenger and later published online through the site X. The images clearly show that most of the nose of the A320 from Austrian Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines (AUA) is now missing, while cockpit windows and some cover panels are smashed.
At present, it's unclear how much harm has been inflicted and for how long the Airbus A320 will be out of action, as per AUA's spokesperson quoted in the aviation journal, Aerotelegraph. The 173 passengers and six crew members on board were thankfully unharmed.
As stated by Aerotelegraph, the A320, identified as Flight OS434, took off from Palma de Mallorca and was slated to touch down in Vienna at 5:40 p.m. While approaching for landing, it encountered a hailstorm at 6,000 meters above the town of Hartberg. The crew declared an emergency, but fortunately, the pilot managed to steer the A320 to Vienna without incident. The hailstorm's severe weather cell was not visible on the plane's weather radar, the airline reported.
On Sunday, Austrian regions dealt with substantial weather-related issues, resulting in flooding and destruction. In Styria, the Pyhrn Autobahn (A9) had to be closed near Uebelbach due to a landslide. Some polling stations for the European election were inaccessible or destroyed, but local authorities moved swiftly to reposition them. The damage caused by the severe weather was dealt with promptly, the reports noted.
Read also:
- The extreme weather in Austria on Sunday was not just limited to hailstorms affecting airplanes; regions like Styria also experienced flooding, leading to the closure of the Pyhrn Autobahn.
- Despite the intense hailstorm that caused significant damage to an Airbus A320 of Austrian Airlines on its journey from Mallorca to Vienna, the Airbus Group continues to manufacture and maintain aircraft, providing reliable service internationally.
- In light of the severe weather incidents in Austria, such as the hailstorm that affected an Airbus A320 and the subsequent flooding in regions like Styria, Austria's aviation authorities and weather services are reevaluating their extreme weather response plans, including improved weather radar technology for airplanes.
