Delta Airlines' Boeing 767-300 — flight number DL-185 — took off from Milan Malpensa Airport a few minutes late on Monday. Destination: John F. Kenney Airport in New York. But shortly after take-off from runway 35R, the plane got into severe turbulence, according to the website of the "Aviation Herald": a thunderstorm.
Extreme hail rained down on the aircraft – and caused damage that made it impossible to continue the flight. When the window of the cockpit was hit and a jump was made across the special glass, the pilots declared an air emergency and aborted the climb. They changed the course of their plane and headed for Rome Fiumicino airport, where they landed safely 65 minutes after take-off from Milan.
A short time later, photos of the damage caused by the hail appeared on Twitter: The nose of the Boeing was completely smashed, the engines were both damaged, and on the leading edge of the right wing, the hailstones penetrated the outer skin of the jet.
It is still unclear why the Delta Airlines Boeing got caught in the thunderstorm immediately after takeoff. In an interview with SPIEGEL.de, long-time Lufthansa pilot Alexander Gerhard-Madjidi explained: "We would never fly through a thunderstorm. We always keep a respectful distance to avoid turbulence and hailstorms.«
The pilots of the Boeing – forewarned or not – flew right into the hail shot.
Oka