American Pilot Landed With Cracked Windshields, Smashed Nose Cone, and “Turbulence Like a Roller Coaster”

American Airlines flight AA1897 from San Antonion to Phoenix ran into strong storms over New Mexico. It was pummeled by hail.

The Airbus A319 with 130 passengers onboard had its nose cone smashed and windshield cracked. One of the pilots couldn’t see out. But they managed to get the plane on the ground safely in El Paso last night.

The aircraft was fying at 34,000 feet 115 miles northeast of El Paso. The crew held at 9000 feet to burn fuel before landing safely 70 minutes after initiating the diversion.

Passengers reported there was lightning outside the aircraft windows, there was sound of hail pelting the aircraft. The sickness bags were needed, several passengers needed more than one and were handed such bags by other passengers not needing them.

According to the airline,

American Airlines flight 1897, from San Antonio to Phoenix, diverted to El Paso due to damage sustained by weather in flight. The aircraft, an Airbus A319 with 130 passengers and a crew of five, landed safely at 8:03 p.m. MT. The aircraft is currently being evaluated by our maintenance team. We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans, and we are sorry for the trouble this caused.

Here are photos from inside the aircraft. One passenger reports, “We could hear the hail hitting the plane, [the turbulence was] like a rollercoaster.”

Passengers were put on a different aircraft to Phoenix. The legacy American West aircraft, delivered in 1999, remained on the ground for inspection.

About Gary Leff

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Comments

  1. In the 70 minutes of holding, couldn’t they have made it to Phoenix? Obviously, safety trumps any operational concern, but what’s the actual rationale for holding over El Paso, rather than burning fuel en route to the planned destination? Simply to be close to an airport of a certain size if the situation deteriorates and they need to land quickly?

  2. My not-a-pilot thought on holding over ELP is that the situation was stable, so they could keep flying racetrack loops to not land heavy. If the situation got worse quickly (eg. cabin depressurization due to a window failing) they could land, heavy, quickly and safely.

    Also, a diversion to ELP is presumably better than diverting to some airport in southern NM, again, should the situation get worse. It’s the difference between stranding pax in the middle of nowhere waiting for a new plane, and deplaning them at a “real” airport.

    Interested if any pilots agree.

  3. Based on the photos, I would hope the plane is getting more than just an inspection! 😀

  4. the local weatherman was watching this flight fly directly into the storm…he said the storms were spread out and there were wide areas on either side to avoid it, but he watched them fly straight into the hail core and then veer off to the SW…he was dumbfounded why they would not have been watching the radar and gotten a better vector to avoid the storm.

  5. Casual observations made by others lead me to believe that someone at HQ didnt spend more than ten minutes planning for this predictable scenario.
    At 9000 ft is there a depressurization issue?
    Did the pilots circle outside of the storm? Was it turbulent before the holding pattern to reduce fuel?
    How much fuel is needed for SA to PHX?
    Why did they fly through the storm if it was avoidable?
    Could they have waited for the bad weather to pass before taking off?
    Was D0 a factor, or on time arrival a factor in the decision making process?

  6. Staying in close proximity to an available, suitable runway would be the factor in staying put. From the picture, have to give a lot of credit to the pilots. Good job!

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