Hail!!!!

[tdager]

These were sent to me by a friend. I am copying the text that accompanied it...

"This is an old B-727. Date: Fri,10 Aug 2006 15:56:01 -0600

Last night around 2300 BAX aircraft flight 705BX encountered severe
weather over Alberta Canada.The aircraft was cruising at 35,000 feet when

it encountered tennis ball sized hail. The pictures below show some of the

damage. All landing lights were destroyed, as was the radar.The crew was
forced to make a "blind" emergency landing. Upon safe return to the ground
the first officer and flight engineer quit. It is expected that the
aircraft is a total loss as its structural integrity has been compromised.
The ol' Boeing Tri-Motor made it through, though."

 

[JasonCT]

I bet someone had to change their shorts!

 

[jason]

I can't believe that the engines made it through that..

 

[Skip Miller]

I can't believe that the engines made it through that..

Pratt & Whitney JT8Ds, prolly. When the going gets tough.....

-Skip

 

[terzap]

I'm glad they made it through safely!

 

[Steve]

Happens more often than you think...

http://www.strangemilitary.com/images/content/10120.pps

(PowerPoint Presentation file)

 

[cwyckham]

I'm a bit skeptical of this story. It just smells funny. A quick google turned up very little. Some people say it's true, some say it isn't, but there's no link to an actual official source of any kind. It seems to exist only in blogs and forums.

Has anybody else had any luck confirming or denying?

And for what it's worth, it would hardly be a write-off due to structural damage. New radome and leading edges, swap the engines, and away you go. There may be a skin panel or two that we can't see that needs a repair or replacement as well.

Chris

 

[cwyckham]

I'm a bit skeptical of this story. It just smells funny. A quick google turned up very little. Some people say it's true, some say it isn't, but there's no link to an actual official source of any kind. It seems to exist only in blogs and forums.

Is it odd that I'm quoting myself?

Steve and I just finished some serious tag team googling via flashchat. If anybody can find things, Steve can! We didn't find any definitive sources. It doesn't look like Transport Canada's database is searchable like the NTSB's.

Anyhow, the most official source we could find is this: http://avindirect.com/news/JardineAug_Sept06.pdf Which lists it on page 2. Note the tail number is given and this is the aircraft: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1067141/L/ The paint scheme matches, anyways.

There's a fairly rational sounding account on this blog: http://acpilot.blogspot.com/search/label/pictures

Another blog had a quote from a guy in Calgary who said there was very heavy hail in the area that day.

So it looks like it really happened, though the details are probably different from the email that's going around. For example, there's no particular reason the landing would have been that exciting, and I doubt anybody quit (at least not permanently).

Steve also brought up that it may have been better to break it up for parts than to repair it. I forgot about the value of the parts. It could have been repaired, but may not have been worth it. Some sources say it was repaired, others that it was written off.

Chris

 

[terzap]

This was investigated by Snopes and here is a followup
http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/haildamage.asp

 

[cwyckham]

This was investigated by Snopes and here is a followup
http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/haildamage.asp

Thanks for taking the time to post this. It's always good to have a dose of reality every once in a while!

Chris