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It only takes 5 seconds of hail to damage an airplane mid-flight, expert says. Photos show how destructive it can be.
An Austrian Airlines flight went viral this week after it flew through a hailstorm on Sunday that ripped off part of the plane’s nose and shattered its cockpit windows. And one expert tells CBS News that while incidents like this are rare, they can happen very easily — and very fast.
The incident involved Austrian Airlines flight OS434, en route from Palma de Mallorca to Vienna, the airline told CBS News. As seen in photos shared by passengers and passersby, the airline also confirmed that the two front cockpit windows and the aircraft nose, also known as the radome, were damaged, as well as “some coverings.” An investigation is now underway.
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“Due to the damage, a Mayday distress call was made,” an airline spokesperson said. “The aircraft was able to land safely at Vienna-Schwechat Airport. All passengers on the flight were unharmed.”
The spokesperson also confirmed that “the incident lasted only a few seconds.” According to meteorologist Renny Vandewege, general manager of weather and climate intelligence at DTN, that’s all it takes to cause damage.
He told CBS News that “because of an airplane’s high speed, hail doesn’t have to be all that large to wield damage to an aircraft.”
“The radome, at the nose of the plane, is particularly vulnerable because of the thin material used on that part of the plane,” he said. “Because of the aircraft speed, only as little as a 5-second exposure to a hail shaft can shatter noses and cockpit windows.”
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However, he added that few airplanes ever get caught in hail shafts because of the onboard radar systems. In most situations, these kinds of weather systems are avoided, he said.
Austrian Airlines told CBS News that Sunday’s situation happened after the plane encountered a thunderstorm cell while it was approaching Vienna, and that “according to the cockpit crew, [it] was not visible on the weather radar.” Single-cell thunderstorms, according to NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, are “small, brief, weak storms that grow and die within an hour or so” and are known to produce brief heavy rain and lightning.
It’s the thunderstorm core where things can be particularly dangerous, Vandewege said, as that’s where the updraft is at a maximum.
“It is the input of the energy source of the storm originating at the surface where the storm ingests warm moist air,” he said. “…These updrafts are what enables storms to produce hail because they can circulate ice up and down with the storm until it is too heavy to circulate. Therefore, the storms with the strongest updrafts can produce the largest hail.”
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As global temperatures rise, so does the frequency and intensity of extreme weather, including thunderstorms. And while flying through hail can quickly become damaging, Vandewege said that it doesn’t mean flying isn’t safe.
He told CBS News that building materials “are ever evolving” to make aircraft “lighter and tougher,” and that the information and technology used to avoid hail shafts is also undergoing substantial advancement.
“Of course, keeping your seatbelt on, light or not, is also recommended,” he said. “…Considering the level of advancement of avoidance technology, I don’t think there is any more reason to fear safety from thunderstorms than before. In fact, the past was more dangerous from relying on weaker technology for avoidance.”
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Long before comic book characters dominated movie screens, actor Christopher Reeve made the world believes in superheroes with the 1978 classic “Superman.”
Reeve died in 2004, nearly a decade after an accident re-shaped his life. “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” is using interviews with family and friends and never-before-seen home videos to explore his real-life heroism.
Reeve started his career on the stage, studying at the prestigious Juilliard School and living with comedian Robin Williams. The pair had a friendship that was “more like a brotherhood,” said Reeve’s son Matthew. Reeve was in awe of Williams’ energy and versatility, Matthew Reeve said, but audiences quickly clued into Reeve’s own star power when he took on the role of the Man of Steel.
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To his children, though, he “was just dad,” Matthew Reeve said. The documentary explores how Matthew Reeve and his sister Alexandra Reeve Givens grew up watching their dad take the stage as Superman. “Super/Man” also reveals their heartbreak over their parents’ breakup and the joy they found when Reeve re-married. He tied the knot with Dana Reeve in 1992, and the pair welcomed another child, William Reeve, later that year.
“Dana was sunshine,” Alexandra Reeve Givens recalled. “She just brought joy with her wherever she was and could find it even in the darkest moments.”
Those dark moments came suddenly, when in 1995, a near-fatal horseback riding accident left Reeve paralyzed from the neck down. The documentary allows viewers to see, for the first time, what went on out of the public’s view. Reeve can be heard talking about how he “ruined (his) life and everybody else’s,” but in a touching moment, old friend Robin Williams is seen visiting him in the hospital.
“Robin showed him ‘Hey, you’re still you,'” Alexandra Reeve Givens said. “‘You still have this foundation of friendship and people around you, who adore you. And you’re going to find those fun moments in life again.'”
That support from friends and family re-ignited Reeve’s legacy of activism. He made appearances at the Democratic National Convention and the 68th Academy Awards in 1996, about a year after the accident. Matthew Reeve said watching his father address his industry peers at the Oscars was “one of (his) most proud moments.”
“It was just a production for him to get out of bed every morning, let alone get across the country and go out in public for the first time,” Matthew Reeve said. “It was a big deal. It was a big deal to him, but it was also a big deal to the entire disability community. We stayed up in London till like three in the morning to watch that live. It’s a fond memory.”
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Reeve also went on to launch what would become the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing research into spiral cord injury and help individuals and families impacted by paralysis. It was his dad’s mission to find a cure, Matthew Reeve said, while his stepmother wanted to focus on improving the lives of paralyzed people and their families. The foundation and Reeve’s platform helped bring unprecedented attention and funding to spinal cord injury research.
Reeve even kept acting and realized his lifelong dream of directing with the 1997 HBO movie “In the Gloaming.” Reeve died in 2004 from heart failure at 52.
“There is a huge amount of great actors and actresses out there, where their filmography might be amazing and what they achieve on a cultural level might be amazing, but have they actually achieved anything really as a human that moves the needle for our society?” said filmmaker Ian Bonhote, who made the documentary with Peter Ettedgui. “And Chris has done both things.”
“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will open in theaters on Friday, Oct. 11.
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