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Cracked windscreen forces Chinese plane to make a blind landing

A Chinese plane was forced to make a blind landing when the cockpit window was almost entirely sh...
Newstalk
Newstalk

13.58 12 Jul 2016


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Cracked windscreen forces Chin...

Cracked windscreen forces Chinese plane to make a blind landing

Newstalk
Newstalk

13.58 12 Jul 2016


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A Chinese plane was forced to make a blind landing when the cockpit window was almost entirely shattered by hailstones.

The South China Airlines Airbus A320 plane was heading from Guangzhou to Chengdu on Saturday when it encountered the hail storms.

The hailstones were so heavy that they they damaged the windscreen to the point where the pilot could no longer see.

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The crew successfully landed the plane with almost zero viability.

Luckily the pilots were able to rely on their navigation instruments in order to bring the aircraft down safely with no reported injuries.

Pictures posted online showed that the large hailstones had caused significant damage to the aircraft.

The airline said in a statement: “After the plane landed, maintenance staff checked over the plane and established that the radar cover on the front of the plane, both pilot windshields and parts of the body of the plane were damaged.

"Their initial investigation concluded that the damage was as a result of hail stones mid-flight."

It is not uncommon for hailstones to cause damage to airplanes. In a similar incident last August, a Delta Air Lines jet had to make an emergency landing in Denver due to severe weather conditions

Images showing the damage done to both planes are almost identical.


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