Radome smashed and window cracked on Austrian Airbus

AUSTRIAN AIRLINES AIRBUS A320-214 OE-LBO (MSN 0776)

Austrian Airlines flight OS434 travelling from Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI/LEPA) to Wien-Schwechat International Airport (VIE/LOWW) encountered a severe hailstorm as it was descending through an altitude of about 20,000 feet near Hartberg, Austria, about 100 km SSW of the destination Vienna International Airport.
The nose cone sustained substantial damage and the windscreen suffered extensive damage.

The shattered radome and cracked windscreens of an Austrian Airlines A320 got viral coverage Sunday after the plane encountered hail from a cell on approach to Vienna-Scwechat Airport. The flight was on its way from Palma de Mallorca, Spain when it hit the weather, which the airline said didn’t show up on the crew’s weather radar (which ironically took the brunt of the damage.) “I think we were about 20 minutes from landing when we got into a cloud of hail and thunderstorm, and the turbulence started,” Emmeley Oakley, a passenger on the flight, told reporters. 

The crew issued a Mayday, likely because of the suddenly opaque windscreens, but landed uneventfully. Passengers praised the crew for calming their fears as they approached Vienna, but some weren’t prepared for what seemed to be serious damage to the aircraft when they deplaned. “It wasn’t until we exited that we saw the nose was missing! The pilots really did an excellent job keeping things as smooth and safe as they could,” Oakley said. The radome is a relatively thin fiberglass structure that is no match for hailstones at 200 knots.

Aircraft Information:

Airline: Austrian Airlines

Code: OS/AUA

Aircraft: Airbus A321-214

Registration: OE-LBM

Serial Number: 1504

Engines: 2 x CFMI CFM56-5B4/P

First Flew: December 1997

Age: 26 Years