According to AeroNews, the Boeing 777 Emirates was forced to return to Milan about 90 minutes after takeoff due to significant damage from hail.
Flight EK205, en route from Dubai to Milan to New York, took off from Milan at 14.07 local time and reached an altitude of 15,000 feet over the Italian and Swiss Alps when on its way met a storm. It was only five minutes since he left when the dispatchers asked him to return the car.
Hail crashed on the plane so badly that not only damaged the nose of the Boeing, but also broke the windshield. Judging by photos posted by Vola Milano Malpensa on Twitter and taken by people who were on the runway after the plane landed, even the fuselage and wings have dents.
However, before landing, the plane circled near Lombard Airport for an hour and a half, as its tanks were filled with fuel needed to fly to New York. The aircraft was well above the maximum allowable landing mass and needed to be freed from several tons of fuel.
<17 style = "text-align: justify;"> At 17:32 Boeing 777-300ER Emirates first tried to land, but at an altitude of about 610 meters above sea level, he had to climb again. After a series of maneuvers south of the airport, the plane landed at 18:00.
No casualties were reported. But the cost of repairing the car is likely to be around several hundred thousand euros.
ulteriori scatti danni al # B777 by #Emirates decollo da #Malpensa , volo # EK205 dopo circa 90 ‘dal decollo è rientrato a Malpensa sulla pista 35L
Very #hailstorm # B777 from MXP to JFK, returned to # Milano with serious damage # avgeek #mxp #grandine # b777 @ SergioSierra67 pic.twitter.com/pYOoDj6gnD– Vola Milano Malpensa [MXP] (@VolaMalpensa) July 13, 2021