longer story with more details in the Evening Times…
TERRIFIED passengers were hurled around a plane when it was hit by a hail and lightning storm at 34,000ft.
The travellers – including some from the west of Scotland – screamed as the holiday jet was pounded by hailstones as big as golf balls.
Many were thrown from their seats and hit the ceiling and overhead lockers as the plane suddenly plunged thousands of feet.
Hailstones punched a hole the size of a football into the nose cone and cracked the cockpit windscreen.
The drama happened as the 213 passengers were returning to Manchester from Cyprus after a cruise holiday.
The bmi Airbus A321 was flying over Germany when the pilot warned of turbulence ahead – then all hell broke loose.
The aircraft plunged, with passengers hurled out of their seats and fearing for their lives.
Passenger Gary McIlroy, 35, from Westerwood, Cumbernauld, said yesterday’s drama was the most terrifying experience of his life.
Gary, who had been on holiday with his fiancee Gi-Gi from Singapore, said: “I thought my time was up.
“We went into a dive about four times and everyone was screaming.
“There was an elderly couple behind us and the woman fainted and her husband cracked his head on an overhead locker.
“The hailstones pounding the plane felt like someone hitting the roof with a hammer – and this kept happening for 45 minutes.”
Gary, a manager with car dealer Reg Vardy, added: “It was incredible, I’m still traumatised speaking about it. I’m never going to set foot in a plane again.”
The plane landed safely at Manchester Airport last night with a badly damaged nose-cone, cracked windscreen and pock-marks along the wing and fuselage.
Bruce Johnstone, 47, a New Zealand photojournalist, took pictures of the damaged plane after he got off. He said: “It was like a hail of bullets and then a huge thump. Everyone was screaming and we are all lucky to be alive.
“But the crew had everything under control and nobody was hurt.
“Everyone clapped and cheered when we landed.
“The nose cone was stoved in and there were cracks on the windscreen. It was pretty ragged.”
The passengers, who were returning from a week-long Mediterranean cruise, said it felt like a rollercoaster ride.
The shocked pilot told them he had experienced nothing like it in 20 years of flying.
Flight BD8412 got into trouble two-and-half hours into the four-and-half-hour trip from Larnaca in Cyprus.
Builder David Mallon, 59, from Salford, near Manchester, said: “The pilot came on and said he was expecting some turbulence and could we return to our seats. As he said that all hell broke loose.
“The plane just dropped and started vibrating. Everybody was stuck on the ceiling.
“We were out of our seats for a few seconds and that happened two or three times. There were people in the aisles.”
Bruce Johnstone’s wife Janet, 49, said: “There was a little girl behind us who was very distressed and I said ‘have you been to Disney? This is just like being on a roller coaster. It’s going to be all right’.”
A spokesman for Manchester Airport confirmed the plane had been damaged by a lightning strike and hailstorm. Air accident investigators had been informed.
A spokeswoman for bmi said no-one had been injured and passengers were not at risk. She insisted there was only minor damage to the nose cone.
Now, if that’s only minor damage to the nose cone, I’d like to see what bmi class as major damage…
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