American A319 near El Paso, June 3rd 2018, severe hail strike

American A319 near El Paso, Jun 3rd 2018, severe hail strike. An American Airlines Airbus A319-100, registration N806AW performing flight AA-1897 from San Antonio,TX to Phoenix,AZ (USA) with 130 passengers and 5 crew, was enroute at FL340 about 115nm northeast of El Paso,TX (USA) when the aircraft encountered turbulence and a severe hail strike at around 01:08Z (Jun 4th) causing damage to both windscreens and the nose cone of the aircraft. The crew decided to divert to El Paso initiating a normal descent, entered a hold at 9000 feet to burn off fuel and landed safely in El Paso about 70 minutes after leaving FL340.

Passengers reported there was lightning outside the aircraft windows, there was sound of hail pelting the aircraft.

A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration N929AN reached Phoenix with a delay of 3 hours.

https://avherald.com/

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