Jet hail horror
Hero pilot lands ‘blind’ after screen is shattered
A PILOT made a heart-stopping emergency landing flying ‘blind’ after hailstones the size of hens’ eggs shattered the windscreen and destroyed the nose of a passenger plane. In a video filmed from the ground, a voice can be heard saying: ‘He won’t do it, he won’t do it.’ But captain Alexander Akopov managed to land safely, saving 121 passengers and six crew, as mass applause broke out at the airport. The pilots of other planes on the ground greeted the red and white jet by flashing their lights and came aboard to shake the captain’s hand. The Ukrainian pilot said he and other crew were celebrating as if it was a ‘second birthday’ after he landed using just his instruments amid the unforgiving winds, rain and hail. The plane, operated by Turkish airline AtlasGlobal, was caught in a freak 20-minute storm on Thursday minutes after taking off from Istanbul. The Airbus A320 was heading to Erkan in northern Cyprus. After climbing 4,000ft, giant hailstones cracked the cockpit windows, making it impossible for the pilots to see. The captain was given permission to land at Ataturk airport in Turkey – even though it was closed due to the atrocious weather, which left a gash in the plane and disabled the autopilot. Captain Akopov said: ‘I have been flying for 30 years. Well, did you see the plane landing? Was it okay? The passengers are alive. ‘It is normal. This is our professional reliability. Our locator did not show this weather disaster, this is why it happened. It was hard, but the main thing is that people are alive.’ Pilots are trained to be able to make ‘instrument landings’ when visibility is poor. They must use instruments in the flight deck and radio signals from the airport to gauge their approach. Oleg Lungul, an engineer at Ataturk airport, wrote on Facebook ‘there was a hurricane and hail the size of a chicken egg’. Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko called the captain to congratulate him and awarded him the Ukrainian Order of Courage. Meanwhile, the violent thunderstorm bombarded Istanbul, injur- ing at least ten and submerging much of the city in knee- deep water. The storm paralysed traffic, caused flash floods, uprooted 230 trees, destroyed 90 roofs and sparked fires across the city. Officials said more than 7,000 emergency workers were sent to help in the aftermath.
‘Ice the size of a chicken egg’