Pilots Land With Shattered Windscreens, No Radar

All Safe After Asiana A321 Hail Encounter
Sun, 11 Jun '06

Pilots Land With Shattered Windscreens, No Radar

One hundred seventy-seven Korean students got much more than they bargained for out of their school tour when the Airbus A321 they were aboard was forced down after a high-speed encounter with hail.

Hailstones pelted Asiana Airlines flight 8942, enroute to Seoul from the southern resort island of Cheju on Friday night, a company spokesman told Reuters.

The hail impacted the plane's nose, destroyed its radome and shattered the front cockpit windows.

While the safety glass in the forward cockpit windows' remained in place, the shattered glass was impossible to see through.

"Our pilots had to land the jet manually without a view of what was ahead of them," the spokesman said.

None of the 200 passengers onboard the A321 were injured.
The spokesman added that pilots Lee Chang-ho and Kim Yong-ik will receive commendations for their efforts.