An Austrian Airlines pilot is being lauded as a hero for successfully landing a passenger plane with almost 180 people on board after the cockpit windscreen was shattered and the nose cone torn off by hailstones.
The first officer had to land the plane, flying from Mallorca to Vienna on Sunday, blind after unintentionally flying into a thunderstorm, the airline said.
“The aircraft hit a thunderstorm on its approach to Vienna which, according to the cockpit crew, was not visible to them on the weather radar,” it said. None of the 173 passengers and six crew on board the Airbus A320 was hurt, it added.
Passengers reported a heavy shaking followed by an announcement by the pilot that the windscreen had burst
SWNS
The Austrian Airlines aircraft had been pummelled by turbulence repeatedly during the flight after it took off on Sunday afternoon.