DL 1889 Damaged by hail enroute BOS-DIA
Aug 7, 2015, 11:10 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: CA
Programs: DL DM, AA Gold
Posts: 223
DL 1889 Damaged by hail enroute BOS-SLC, EL @ DIA
Last edited by burbanite; Aug 7, 2015 at 11:42 pm
Aug 7, 2015, 11:26 pm
#2
Join Date: Nov 2009
Programs: DL DM-1MM HH Diamond
Posts: 361
Aug 7, 2015, 11:32 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: CA
Programs: DL DM, AA Gold
Posts: 223
I wasn't on the flight. I belong to another forum where they were posted by a friend of a passenger who was. The discussion on that forum involved talk of radar effectiveness, dry hail, pilot choice in that kind of situation etc.
I'm thinking the passengers and crew were very lucky.
I'm thinking the passengers and crew were very lucky.
Aug 7, 2015, 11:37 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Back in Reds Country (DAY/CVG). Previously: SEA & SAT.
Programs: DL PM 1MM, AA PLAT, UA Silver, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 10,361
OP, correction to your thread title: Flight was enroute from BOS to SLC and diverted to DEN due to the hail damage.
Pretty crazy and nasty stuff though. I wonder how/why the aircrew wasn't able to avoid this weather pattern (I'm not assigning blame to the pilots or ATC or anyone else - just wondering what led to this).
Pretty crazy and nasty stuff though. I wonder how/why the aircrew wasn't able to avoid this weather pattern (I'm not assigning blame to the pilots or ATC or anyone else - just wondering what led to this).
Aug 7, 2015, 11:41 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: CA
Programs: DL DM, AA Gold
Posts: 223
OP, correction to your thread title: Flight was enroute from BOS to SLC and diverted to DEN due to the hail damage.
Pretty crazy and nasty stuff though. I wonder how/why the aircrew wasn't able to avoid this weather pattern (I'm not assigning blame to the pilots or ATC or anyone else - just wondering what led to this).
Pretty crazy and nasty stuff though. I wonder how/why the aircrew wasn't able to avoid this weather pattern (I'm not assigning blame to the pilots or ATC or anyone else - just wondering what led to this).
Aug 7, 2015, 11:52 pm
#8
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: LAS HNL
Programs: DL DM, 5.7 MM, UA 3.1 MM, MARRIOTT PLATINUM, AVIS FIRST, Amex Black Card
Posts: 4,479
Flight 1889 on Fri, 07 Aug 2015
Change planes
We apologize for the service disruption. Please check your reservation to see your new flight information.
One-Time Flight Notification New Search Flight Schedules
Status Departure Arrival
City Scheduled actual City Scheduled actual
Diverted Boston, MA (BOS)
Terminal A
Gate A4 5:30PM
07 Aug Diverted Salt Lake City, UT (SLC)
Terminal Unit 2
Gate D6 9:00PM
07 Aug Diverted
That pilot is very lucky to land that plane in that condition.
Change planes
We apologize for the service disruption. Please check your reservation to see your new flight information.
One-Time Flight Notification New Search Flight Schedules
Status Departure Arrival
City Scheduled actual City Scheduled actual
Diverted Boston, MA (BOS)
Terminal A
Gate A4 5:30PM
07 Aug Diverted Salt Lake City, UT (SLC)
Terminal Unit 2
Gate D6 9:00PM
07 Aug Diverted
That pilot is very lucky to land that plane in that condition.
Aug 8, 2015, 12:03 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: CA
Programs: DL DM, AA Gold
Posts: 223
The discussion on the forum the pics came from is centered around how and why as you would expect. One of the contributors, a pilot, had this to say about hail in general :
Hail has been known to get ejected from the tops of thunderstorms and blown downwind of them clear of the body of the storm. If it has time and conditions are right it will refreeze making it dry. You can be flying along in clear air 10 miles downwind of a 60,000'+ thunderbumper and hit hail unpainted on airborne weather radar. Then you do the chief pilot carpet dance explaining why you didn't go around it by 20 miles.
Hail has been known to get ejected from the tops of thunderstorms and blown downwind of them clear of the body of the storm. If it has time and conditions are right it will refreeze making it dry. You can be flying along in clear air 10 miles downwind of a 60,000'+ thunderbumper and hit hail unpainted on airborne weather radar. Then you do the chief pilot carpet dance explaining why you didn't go around it by 20 miles.
Aug 8, 2015, 7:23 am
#10
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Bonvoy Titanium, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, UA 1K, AA Exec. Plat., DL DM, National E.E.
Posts: 253
I've looked at the animation of the local radar at the time this happened. What was initially a 40 mile gap, became a solid line of thunderstorms.
Here are a couple of still images, with the second being taken at the time the aircraft passed through the weather. Look toward the center-right, this is near McCook, NE:
Basically, two systems converged into one. It was dark outside, and they were probably relying solely on weather radar to navigate around the thunderstorm.
Here are a couple of still images, with the second being taken at the time the aircraft passed through the weather. Look toward the center-right, this is near McCook, NE:
Basically, two systems converged into one. It was dark outside, and they were probably relying solely on weather radar to navigate around the thunderstorm.
Aug 8, 2015, 7:32 am
#11
In memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2005
Location: PIT
Programs: DM life is over 2MM PM now & NW MillionAir Wyndham Rewards Plat -Hotels.com Silver -Accor Silver
Posts: 15,408
In case anyone missed it, here's a similar story from July 4 of a DL B744 that ran into hail enroute from DTW/ICN. Some AMAZING pics of the damage!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...il-damage.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...il-damage.html
Aug 8, 2015, 7:37 am
#12
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Bonvoy Titanium, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, UA 1K, AA Exec. Plat., DL DM, National E.E.
Posts: 253
Here's the ATC tape from the area, it's a jumble of frequencies, but you can hear Delta 1889 starting at 1:10 reporting severe turbulence, and again at 7:50:
http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kd...2015-0200Z.mp3
...and here's the ATC map of the area. You can see the DAL1889 was one of only a few airplanes in the area:
http://www.flightradar24.com/2015-08...0.35,-101.26/7
http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kd...2015-0200Z.mp3
...and here's the ATC map of the area. You can see the DAL1889 was one of only a few airplanes in the area:
http://www.flightradar24.com/2015-08...0.35,-101.26/7
Last edited by bigsaabowski; Aug 8, 2015 at 7:43 am
Aug 8, 2015, 7:55 am
#13
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 339
...and here's the ATC map of the area. You can see the DAL1889 was one of only a few airplanes in the area:
http://www.flightradar24.com/2015-08...0.35,-101.26/7
I flew into DEN yesterday and we were coming from the east but went all the way around North over Wyoming and came in over the mountains before landing...no idea why they didn't do the same thing if they were on their way to SLC
Aug 8, 2015, 10:51 am
#15
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, DL PM, UA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, probably some others
Posts: 4,105
Not sure if this was the same storm, but SLC had a pretty nasty-but-small thunderstorm yesterday that shut the airport down for a half hour. Timed perfectly with my ATL-SLC flight and, given that we were too low on fuel to circle for very long, had to divert to GJT.