When they got off the plane, after a forced landing in Rome, the 215 passengers of a Milan-New York flight organized by the Delta company discovered the extent of the damage caused by hail. The Boeing 767 found itself, this Monday, July 24, in the heart of a hailstorm, despite its 7000 meters of altitude.
The hailstones, which fell on the aircraft only a quarter of an hour after its departure, broke the tip of the fuselage, which disappeared. The wings and reactors were also heavily damaged.
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'A roller coaster'
This episode caused a great scare to the more than 200 passengers and the eleven crew members who accompanied them. "Turbulence was like being on a roller coaster. There were a lot of air holes. One of the passengers looked out the window and saw the wing shaking as if it was going to break. Me, I saw flashes of light hitting the plane, "said a passenger to TF1.
Caught in this turbulence, the pilot decided to turn back to Rome airport, which was 500 kilometers away. "The flight landed safely in Rome," Delta said in a statement quoted by The Associated Press. Everyone was able to return safely to dry land, and passengers were able to board New York later that day on another plane.