Delta plane took off into a hailstorm in 2023 after all weather data was not reviewed, report says
By Alexandra Skores, CNN
(CNN) — Delta Air Lines pilots and dispatchers didn’t look at all available weather information when they sent a plane into a damaging hailstorm in Italy in 2023, Italian transportation investigators ruled in a report published Thursday.
On July 24, 2023, the Boeing 767 took off from Milan’s Malpensa Airport headed to John F. Kennedy International Airport and quickly encountered severe turbulence and hail.
The “delayed decision of the crew” to change the flight path caused damage to the plane, the report concluded.
“It was terrifying,” passenger Steven Coury told CNN at the time. “One thing that we heard… very loud banging sounds on the top of the plane on the wing.”
The pilots could not turn right to get out of the storm because of the Alps, so they turned to the left, but the plane was already damaged.
“As we began our left turn, I noticed a flash of light on my windscreen followed by a sudden crack,” the first officer told investigators, according to the report.
Along with the cracked windshield, the nose of the plane had a 30-inch-wide hole in it, the wings were dented, and parts of the engines were damaged. The crew diverted to Rome for an emergency landing.
“Their flight and crew did an amazing job to land us,” Coury said. “I really have to wonder why we were allowed to take off in a storm that violent.”
Radar satellite images would have shown a high possibility of an encounter with “intense weather phenomenon,” the report said. The pilot’s weather briefing by dispatchers did not contain satellite radar images, although they might have been able to access them on a tablet in the cockpit before the boarding door was closed.
Air traffic control did not warn the flight of hail, but the pilots did not ask for it, the report also notes.
Delta’s meteorology department “could possibly forecast in advance the meteorologic phenomenon along the planned flight path by use of the satellite radar images,” investigators reported. “This did not occur.”
Twelve crew members, eight cabin crew and 214 passengers were on board.
Since the incident, Delta has reiterated the importance of thunderstorms and hail avoidance in a newsletter for pilots and some of the company’s aircraft are receiving upgraded weather radar.
“Delta fully cooperated with this investigation,” the airline said in a statement, thanking investigators for their expertise. “While these instances are rare, Delta is committed to making the world’s safest mode of travel even safer.”
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