Hail storm damages airplane nose and windshield

An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a bout of severe weather damaged the plane. Flight 1897 from San Antonio, Texas, to Phoenix, Arizona, hit a serious

hail storm about 70 minutes after taking off, partially crushing the nose and the windshield of the Airbus A319. The pilot diverted to El Paso International Airport, and all 130 passengers

and 5 crew members arrived safely, according to KTXS12. Photos posted on social media show the dangerous level of damage. The nose of the aircraft has been partially crushed, while the front

windows appear to be entirely shattered. KTXS12 reports that the pilot informed the tower over the radio that, “The hail has beat up our forward windshields pretty badly for American

Airlines 1897. At this time, we don’t have a whole lot of forward visibility.” An anonymous woman onboard the flight described the incident as “five minutes of hell,” to ABC 15 Arizona,

recalling “scary” turbulence, flying cell phones and beverages, and passengers sharing air sick bags. “I keep looking back on it and kind of getting chills,” she told the outlet. “We had no

idea how bad it was until we landed.” After arriving to El Paso, customers reportedly boarded another plane to Phoenix around 11:45 p.m., and American Airlines is now taking steps to review

the plane. “American Airlines flight 1897, from San Antonio to Phoenix, diverted to El Paso due to damage sustained by weather in flight,” the airline said in a statement to KENS5. “The

aircraft, an Airbus A319 with 130 passengers and a crew of five, landed safely at 8:03 p.m. MT. The aircraft is currently being evaluated by our maintenance team. We never want to disrupt

our customers’ travel plans, and we are sorry for the trouble this caused.”