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Pictures: Airliner was smashed by hail in mid-air

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A Dash 8-300 from the Zambian regional operator Proflight was smashed by hail and hit by lightning. The incident happened on Nov. 25 while the plane was descending for Lusaka International Airport. The plane hit a severe storm. Pictures of the seriously damaged aircraft were published on a social media account of a local news portal. (airlinerwatch.com) Altro...

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paulgilpin1953
paul gilpin 10
that'll buff right out.
KobeHunte
Kobe Hunte 4
oh yeah.. A hours work right there and it will be just like new.
FrankHarvey
The windscreens held.
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
Yes.. but was damaged... The Windshield is about 3 1/2 layers of glass and is very durable... I remember once we had a -100 parked over night at an out station that got hit by a Hail Storm... The Joke was that we need to sell Banner Advertisement on it to the PGA Tour... The top of the wings, Fuselage, and tail looked like it had been hit by a thousand Golf Balls... We documented over 900 golf ball size dents.
Duijn
"We documented over 900 golf ball size dents"

That would have improved the aerodynamics of the plane =)
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
It may have... It flew for quite a few years on Deferral before it was fixed.
ssobol
How can a windshield be "3 1/2 layers of glass"?
KobeHunte
Kobe Hunte 1
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
I do not understand your question.. they are all 3 Layers Thick... Pressurization..
rboddy91
Rich Boddy 1
My only thought is maybe he's confused on the half layer? What would a half layer be in this case?
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
There are 3 layers of glass that is about 1/2" thick each. They are all bonded together into one, and depending which window may be heated. the 1/2 layer I would probably call the inner layer.

KobeHunte
Kobe Hunte 1
Just half as thick as the 3 other layers.
krs
It's a bit like digging half a hole. ;-)
rboddy91
Rich Boddy 0
Are you also confused on how a 3 layer cake is actually 3 layers of cake?
Motherfred
Carl Staib 4
And no one spoke of the engines. The abuse they took had to be terrific and they just kept on running. Fabulous engineering as far as I'm concerned.
bentwing60
bentwing60 2
You might consider that in this publish or perish world of what's the worst thing we can find to show, all the destruction pics. show composite parts. that took a beating because they were in it for a while. But it wasn't very 'BIG' or they would have shown photos of destroyed metal parts. Like wing, stab. leading edges as well as props. that are composite with metal leading edges. As well, turboprops are the best turbine for ice encounters because most have some sort of inlet ducting and inlet heat that keeps hail and ice out of the core. The typical S duct or diverter may cost you some power but it saves the motor. Not possible with a fan.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Engines are probably toast as the props getting damaged... Prop Vibe will do that.
WigzellRM
Yes indeed. The plane is probably a write-off. Best some local entrepreneur buys it and makes a restaurant. Seriously something like that is on my bucket list.
bentwing60
bentwing60 1
So, somehow I missed the photos. of damaged props. but not the obvious pics. of both windscreens, as well as the eyebrows with No apparent damage. That leads to a conclusion of a write-off how? Kinda like DL414 some time back, a venerable 757, that was pretty much universally written off here and DL patched and ferried for repairs. You guys might leave the sensationalism to the press, who at least get paid for it. But I hope not much!
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
You buy it and I will try to visit your Restaurant... Sounds nice!
WigzellRM
Not really. They have bypass doors so hail wouldn't be a problem if the bypass doors are activated.

Engine intake bypass doors
The engine intake bypass doors, one in each nacelle at the rear of the plenum, provide a means of preventing solids and precipitation from accumulating on the aft floor of the intake plenum by creating an exhaust path for solids to escape when opened by flight compartment selection. The doors are normally opened only during flight in icing conditions.
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
Note prop Damage... The Vibration would make the Engines Permanently useless.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
With that kind of Damage and he made it back... I am sure the Props are toast.... The Engines have an ICE Bypass and probably survived all the ICE... However, with the Prop Issue, the Engines are probably toast anyway due to Prop Vibration....
Relics
Relics 3
Any reason why the pilots flew through such a storm? Or was this unavoidable?
bbabis
bbabis 1
Often, due to radar attenuation, the worst of the storms could look like a handy hole to duck through. Other times you can have so much attenuation that a severe could hide behind what looks like just rain. If you can't paint through it, don't go through it.
jbsimms
Sounds very similar to Southern Airways Flight 242 that crashed in New Hope, GA. From Wiki: “The crew was advised of the presence of embedded thunderstorms and possible tornadoes along their general route prior to their departure from Huntsville, but they were not subsequently told that the cells had since formed a squall line. The flight crew had flown through that same area from Atlanta earlier in the day, encountering only mild turbulence and light rain.

The weather system had greatly intensified in the meantime. The peak convective activity was later shown on ground radar to be near Rome, Georgia, to which the flight was cleared to proceed by air traffic control. The crew attempted to pick out a path through the cells using their on-board weather radar display, but they were apparently misled by the radar's attenuation effect and they proceeded toward what they believed was a low intensity area, when in fact it was the peak convective activity point, attenuated by rain.”
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
Very similiar... Except they made it back to the airport and landed.
bentwing60
bentwing60 0
If you know Jack about weather radar, SA 242 was a 70 dBZ event with an AVQ46 radar. The equivalent of a 20/1000 guy using a cane to cross Madison Ave. on Friday evening. The latter example of a Dash 8, that got to a runway, would not have survived the SA 242 weather event either. Look up Archie Trammell!
raleedy
Must have been a fun ride.
KobeHunte
Kobe Hunte 2
I can imagine...
jbsimms
Had one of those coming into SeaTac one January evening during a Winter storm. Up, Down, Left, Right; plus some I’m sure hadn’t been invented yet
WigzellRM
My buddy was flying a 727 in South Africa back in the late 90's when they went through a hailstorm. They landed safely but the plane was written off.
KobeHunte
Kobe Hunte 2
ouch... not cool..
WigzellRM
Not sure if I can post links but let's try https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19990422-1
KobeHunte
Kobe Hunte 2
Yeah you just copy and paste it...
Mackhatter2003
Darned lucky. Must have been quite a sound.
picturetaker
AND it got struck lightning?!
jbsimms
Shocking !!!
KobeHunte
Kobe Hunte 1
Nice humour... lol
VivPike
Viv Pike 2
Looks pretty much smashed to me.
jbsimms
Smashing good time
brianrush
time to upgrade to a Q400.
Airassociate
Why the Hell did they fly into a Severe Storm.
No Weather Radar?
Did Not Check before flight WX.
Planetjem
Eh, a couple rolls of speed tape should fix it.
sgbelverta
That plane isn't flying anywhere, and I can't imagine Lusaka has much in the way of aircraft repair facilities. Wonder where it will go?
nasdisco
Chris B 5
Visions of those airports where dead aircraft just sit there for ever....
canuck44
canuck44 1
JNB is closest.
linbb
linbb -5
Smashed? Really? Damaged would have been a better word to use as the other leads one to think it was destroyed.
KobeHunte
Kobe Hunte 6
Looks a bit more than damaged sir. Look at the pictures.
bentwing60
bentwing60 2
Looks a bit like plastic/composite damage primarily. The windscreens and boot protected leading edges appear undamaged and metal parts fare much better in light to moderate hail events than do composites. He was in it for more than a moment to beat the airplane up like that, and I bet the radar was painting RED all the way up to it, and all the way through it! Penetrate cells, you're gonna get bit.
bbabis
bbabis 1
The lightning inspections will also add plenty of time and expense.

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