Hail Damages Plane, Delta Flight Diverted To DIA
DENVER (CBS4)- A flight bound for Salt Lake City from Boston made an emergency landing at Denver International Airport after it was damaged during a hail storm over the border of Nebraska and eastern Colorado on Friday night.
Delta passenger Beau Sorensen tweeted out the picture of the damage to the plane, which was extensive, once the plane landed at DIA.
"We were about three-and-a-half to four hours into the flight," said Sorensen. "The pilot mentioned that we would get into some turbulence."
The windows of the cockpit were broken and the fuselage of the A320 was partly torn.
"You could hear the hailstones hitting the aircraft and my seatmate was sitting next to the window and said it looked like a snowcone maker," said Sorensen. "He said they were baseball-sized hailstones."
The Delta airlines flight 1889 was diverted for an emergency landing at DIA where it landed safely at 9 p.m. Friday.
"We went around the corner and from the window we could see the shattered windshield, we could see all over the engine where lightning had struck, we could see the nose of the plane was missing... it was really intense," said passenger Rob Wessman.
"Nobody had any idea that the nosecone was destroyed and that the windshield was completely obliterated," said Sorensen. "We didn't realize that it looked like somebody had taken a baseball bat to the windshield."
"I thought to myself when it was happening, I thought, 'Okay, have I told everyone that I love that I love them?' and as soon as I realized I had done that I was like, 'I'm alright,'" said passenger Robin Jones.
One person was taken to the hospital.
All passengers disembarked at DIA. Another plane was brought in for the passengers to continue their journey to Salt Lake City.
A severe storm hit eastern Colorado Friday night, bringing hail to the area.
The Wiggins Fire Department sent CBS4 a picture of large hail that hit on Friday.
Wiggins is located about 65 miles east of Denver.
Delta Airlines released this statement: Delta flight 1889 from Boston to Salt Lake City diverted to Denver due to damage to the aircraft after encountering a thunderstorm that produced hail while in flight. The flight landed without incident, and passengers were re-accommodated on another aircraft. The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority.
