One passenger said: “We definitely felt hail falling on the plane.”
Austrian Airlines said that its plane was severely damaged by hailstones that led to part of the plane’s nose being dislodged on Sunday.
Austrian Airlines said in a statement to ABC News that flight OS434 was flying from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to Vienna, Austria, when it struck a thunderstorm cell. The hail damaged the cockpit windows and some of the covers and nose, which photos showed appeared to be broken.
“I think we were about 20 minutes from landing when we got into a hail and thunderstorm cloud, and the turbulence started,” Emily Oakley, a passenger on the plane, told ABC News via text message.
Inside the cabin, they could hear the hail as it hit their plane, Oakley said.
“We definitely felt hailstones falling on the plane, and it was very loud and very rocky for a minute,” Oakley wrote.
As the plane – an Airbus A320 – passed through the severe weather area, which the airline said was not visible on radar to the cockpit crew, a mayday call was made due to damage.
Oakley estimated that the plane took about two minutes or less to get airborne into the hailstorm, causing “phones and mugs” to fly around the plane.
Some people screamed, and flight attendants stepped in to help, Oakley said.
“The cabin crew did a really good job of calming these people down,” Oakley wrote.
Austrian Airlines said that despite the difficult final stage, the plane landed safely at Vienna-Schwechat Airport, without any passengers being injured.
“It was a very quiet flight for 90% of the flight,” Oakley said.
The Austrian Airlines technical team is currently examining the damage.
“We didn’t notice the nose of the plane was missing until after we got out! The pilots really did an excellent job of keeping things as smooth and safe as possible,” Oakley said.
“Certified music scholar. Freelance analyst. Social mediaholic. Hipster-friendly web nerd. Zombie buff.”