Flight forced to divert after hailstones crack windshield

‘We flew through a hailstorm for some reason and it cracked the entire windshield,’ says passenger

The plane was forced to divert after just a few minutes (FlightRadar24)

A United Airlines flight had to turn back after it was caught in a hailstorm that allegedly cracked the aircraft windshield.

Flight UA349 from Chicago to Washington on 12 October took off at 2.17pm and flew out over Lake Michigan before performing a loop and landing back at O’Hare International Airport.

United said the pilot made the decision not to continue after encountering “severe weather”.

A passenger onboard the service, Alex Lang, shared a picture of the windshield on social media, in which it appears the glass has smashed.

“My UA349 flight literally just had to emergency land because we flew through a hailstorm for some reason and it cracked the entire windshield...” he tweeted.

Lang later told Chicago NBC 5 of the experience: “It's a combination of a going up and down feeling and loud hail hitting, like sheet metal.  

”Just loud like concrete. It was pretty frightening.“  

He added that plane was blasted by hailstones for around four minutes.

Passengers were put on another plane later the same day, taking off a few hours later at 5.02pm and landing safely at Washington Dulles International Airport at 7.39pm.

The Independent has contacted United Airlines for further comment.

It’s not the first time damage to an aircraft has prompted a flight diversion.

A Boeing 767 with 136 people on board made an emergency landing in Madrid in February 2020 after circling the airport for four hours with a faulty engine and a burst tyre.

The Air Canada flight to Toronto contacted air traffic control about the problems 30 minutes after taking off from the Madrid-Barajas airport in the Spanish capital.

It was forced to burn off fuel to lighten the plane before safely landing at the same airport – to the relief of all 128 passengers and eight staff on board.

“Pretty scary rough landing, but we made it,” said one passenger who had tweeted photos of flames and smoke shooting from the left engine.