AA1897 SAT - PHX emergency descent, ELP divert 3 Jun 2018 (hail)
Jun 5, 2018, 7:52 am
#17
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Looking at that photo, I would bet there is more damage than just the nose cone and wind screen. Leading edges, skin above cockpit. Think about your car after a big hailstorm with all the pits. Then think about an A319 flying at 400 miles per hour and hitting those stones.
Jun 5, 2018, 7:57 am
#18
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Our local meteorologist shared radar images on Twitter that showed a line of red/orange thunderstorms with a small gap of green which is where the pilot tried to go. So yes, it was a pure wall of storms.
Jun 5, 2018, 8:09 am
#19
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Looking at that photo, I would bet there is more damage than just the nose cone and wind screen. Leading edges, skin above cockpit. Think about your car after a big hailstorm with all the pits. Then think about an A319 flying at 400 miles per hour and hitting those stones.
Jun 5, 2018, 8:24 am
#20
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Jun 5, 2018, 5:54 pm
#22
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The cockpit crew made an excellent difficult landing. But USDOT and AA may have a bone to pick with their routing choices given DEN ATC and recent PiReps warnings. (Storm Chasers)
Jun 5, 2018, 6:59 pm
#23
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Very much Monday morning quarterbacking, I know, especially because we only have a static radar pic here and don't know exactly what it looked like at the time the plane entered the front...yet...it sure seems like there was a shorter and more open route:
Last edited by DenverBrian; Jun 5, 2018 at 7:12 pm
Jun 5, 2018, 7:27 pm
#24
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True this. But the ATC warnings and pireps... it’ll be sorted by AA and the regulators. Hella good airmanship getting it down and landing uneventfully at ELP, regardless.
Jun 5, 2018, 8:08 pm
#25
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Since the radar photo was taken "long" (by weather standards) after getting hit by hail, since there's a path all the way to the ground, I would assume there were storms in that spot back then. It's both clear (after landing in ELP) and points in the direction of PHX. They turned to go north then west, presumably to avoid weather.
Jun 5, 2018, 8:16 pm
#26
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Since the radar photo was taken "long" (by weather standards) after getting hit by hail, since there's a path all the way to the ground, I would assume there were storms in that spot back then. It's both clear (after landing in ELP) and points in the direction of PHX. They turned to go north then west, presumably to avoid weather.
It feels to me like more of an ATC error or poor communication among pilots ahead of the flight reporting the level of turbulence/weather.
If they actually "threaded the needle," it's very concerning to me. I do not want my flight "threading a needle" thinking they can squeak by severe weather. I'd much prefer a turnaround to that.
Jun 5, 2018, 9:23 pm
#27
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Looking through the Convective SIGMETs issued that night, at 2355Z, there was a warning of 2 inch hail in an area covering much of Eastern New Mexico. (The SIGMETs are a pain to decipher, so I could be wrong though).
This SIGMET seemed to have deterred most aircraft from flying across that area, but based on flight-tracker PlaneFinder, there were at least 3 other aircraft that flew through that "gap" in the weather. The problem with severe/extreme weather is that it can be localized, so it doesn't surprise me that no other aircraft reported such damage. Based on the track of AA1897 and the weather radar archive, my non-professional opinion is that it flew a little too far north for whatever reason, and went right into the hail core of the storm.
Golf-ball sized hail (1.75-2 inches) at >400mph can definitely cause that kind of damage
This SIGMET seemed to have deterred most aircraft from flying across that area, but based on flight-tracker PlaneFinder, there were at least 3 other aircraft that flew through that "gap" in the weather. The problem with severe/extreme weather is that it can be localized, so it doesn't surprise me that no other aircraft reported such damage. Based on the track of AA1897 and the weather radar archive, my non-professional opinion is that it flew a little too far north for whatever reason, and went right into the hail core of the storm.
Golf-ball sized hail (1.75-2 inches) at >400mph can definitely cause that kind of damage
Jun 6, 2018, 8:18 pm
#28
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Here is a detailed write-up from an aviation meteorology point of view: Mike Smith Enterprises Blog: Aeronautical Malpractice? Flying Through a Hailstorm!
These happen far too frequently.
These happen far too frequently.
Jun 6, 2018, 11:23 pm
#29
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Here is a detailed write-up from an aviation meteorology point of view: Mike Smith Enterprises Blog: Aeronautical Malpractice? Flying Through a Hailstorm!
These happen far too frequently.
These happen far too frequently.