That was the fate that briefly befell an IndiGo flight as it flew from New Delhi to Srinagar. This all happened through a stormy night. The flight typically takes an hour and a half tops. It ran into a very dramatic hailstorm, sending the train into some very choppy travel, causing many of the passengers to panic.
The plane breeched the turbulent thunderstorm cloud layers. Just before that turbulence hit, the pilot was able to get a fasten seatbelt announcement out in time. Passengers were exuberantly looking forward to reaching Srinagar in half an hour. Then, without any warning, they were rocked by bone-rattling shaking from the intense hailstorm. Video footage recorded by passenger Sheikh Samiullah shows the sheer terror and pandemonium that consumed everyone on board.
Mary Schiavo is a CNN transportation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation. She noted that major turbulence encounters are not exactly rare. Dyble said that in some cases, severe weather is missing from radar. That creates a dangerous situation when it comes to outsmarting rapid and unexpected shifts in weather.
“The performance of the plane will be impacted (by the hail). They have to make sure they keep it under control,” – Mary Schiavo
As the hail was striking the airplane, terrified passengers were crying out as they thought they were going to die. Sheikh Samiullah recounted his experience, stating, “There was so much turbulence that I thought it was my last flight. Everyone thought we would crash. It was such a traumatic experience.”
Even with the extent of damage to the aircraft—as the photo below clearly shows—the test pilot was able to bring the aircraft down in one piece in Srinagar. When the passengers landed, they were overwhelmed with relief. Their sense of calm quickly evaporated as they boarded and assessed the awful state of the aircraft.
“After we deboarded and saw the plane’s damage, it was even more traumatic,” – Sheikh Samiullah
Schiavo went on to explain what that sort of damage could mean. We’ve had other aircraft where the hail has pounded the nose in or pounded chunks of the nose off. And (the plane) can shed equipment, the key is they still maintain the control,’ Turner said.
That fateful night, an unprecedented monsoon storm hit New Delhi with torrential rains, extreme lightning activity and supercell thunderstorms. These same conditions created hazardous conditions for the flight crew and passengers to evacuate safely.
