An Emirates flight EK205 was disturbed by the hailstorm making the aircraft turn around shortly after it took off on Tuesday, 13th July.

As JACDEC reports, the incident occurred on Emirates flight EK205 from Milan Malpensa to New York JFK on Tuesday. The Boeing 777-300ER departed Milan at 16:23 local time. However, minutes after it took off and reached a height of 15,000ft over the surrounding mountains on route to 32,000ft, it faced issues due to a severe hailstorm.

To avoid a hard landing, the pilots decided to enter a holding pattern over Milan Airport for an hour at least. Only when they burned enough fuel, they landed the aircraft again in Milan at 18:04 local time.

The hail shattered two pilot windscreens, and the nose of the 777 also was damaged. No crew members or passengers were injured.