The pilots of a Delta Air Lines flight from Barcelona to New York JFK were forced to make an emergency diversion back to the Catalonian city shortly after takeoff after the Airbus A330 flew through a wild hailstorm.
Eyewitnesses shared photos on social media of the damage caused to the front of the Airbus A330 long-haul aircraft, with a large dent and hail damage across the nose of the nine-year-old plane.
Flight Details
- Flight DL-169
- Barcelona El Prat (BCN) – New York JFK
- Airbus A330-300
- Age: Nine years
The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon shortly after Delta flight DL-169 had taken off from Barcelona El Prat International Airport.
The aircraft was in its initial climb out of Barcelona and had reached an altitude of around 20,000 feet when the plane suddenly dropped to 8,000 feet and entered a holding pattern off the coast of the Costa Brava.
After circling several times, the aircraft was cleared to return to Barcelona, where it landed safely, and the passengers were allowed to deplane via mobile airstairs.
It was at this point that the scale of the damage to the aircraft became apparent, and the aircraft remains grounded nearly 24 hours later.
One of the passengers on the plane said many of the people sitting around them received emergency weather alerts on their mobile phones, warning them of a severe storm in the vicinity just as the plane was taxiing for takeoff.
Delta Air Lines has had a few recent run-ins with hailstorms, and late last month, the carrier was forced to ground around 100 planes at its Atlanta Hartsfield hub after severe summer weather, including a wild hailstorm, swept across the airport, potentially causing structural damage to any airplanes that weren’t in a hangar.
Any planes that were on the ground in Atlanta and not in a maintenance hangar had to be immediately taken out of service so that engineers could thoroughly check them over for damage and make sure they were safe to fly.
Remarkably, after working flat out overnight, all of the planes were cleared to return to service the following morning.
In July 2023, a Delta Boeing 767 flew into a hailstorm shortly after takeoff from Milan Malpensa Airport, causing ‘substantial’ damage to the aircraft, including punctures to the right-hand wing and radome.
The aircraft also reportedly suffered a cracked windshield, punctures to both engine spinners, and damage to the fan blades on both engines, as it was battered by hail.
On that occasion, the pilots diverted to Rome, where the plane was promptly taken out of service for urgent repairs.
