Plane left with huge hole in nose after hailstorm

A violent hailstorm ripped a hole in the nose cone of a Delta plane, and caused passengers to scream in terror.

The Boeing 747-400 was making its way from Detroit to Seoul when it came across bad weather on 16 June.

The pilot reportedly told passengers to buckle up around three hours from landing at South Korea's Incheon International Airport after being unable to get permission from Chinese air traffic controllers to fly around the weather.

According to the Mirror, one passenger on board at the time, Brian Walker, said the plane felt "out of control" and "slammed into something" around seven times.

Speaking to the Minneapolis and St Paul Business Journal, Walker said: "The plane was dropping vertically then 'slamming' into something.

"This happened about seven times. The few unbuckled (passengers) initially flew up to hit the overhead bins. Anything loose in the cabin flew. All of the meal and beverage carts were spilled.

"My glasses flew off my face and luckily were recovered several rows away. Luggage was tossed out of overhead bins onto the heads of passengers."

He added: "I'm sure if we were in the US and sustained this damage we would have made an immediate emergency landing.

"Being over China and near North Korea, I assume that it was decided to continue" to Incheon International."

According to thejournal.ie, Delta reported the incident to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), but no injuries were reported.

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