Massive Hailstorm Smashes Passenger Jet Cockpit Window

Passengers on a China Southern Airlines flight from Guangzhou to Beijing had a bumpy ride Sunday morning when their airplane was struck by heavy hail.

The weather was so intense it damaged the cockpit windscreen, sending cracks through much of the outer layer of glass, state news agency China.org.cn reported Monday.

No passengers or crew were harmed in the incident, which occurred partway through the flight according to a statement from the airline seen by the agency. The plane landed safely at Beijing roughly 90 minutes after the hail strike, industry publication The Aviation Herald reported.

The plane involved was an Airbus A380-800, according to the Herald. Photos shared on social media show where hail pummeled the nose of the aircraft, damaging the plane and removing paint.

In other aviation news, a trainee pilot fell unconscious en route to Adelaide, Australia, according to a report published earlier in May. The unnamed man was out of it for roughly 40 minutes after having skipped breakfast, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau document stated.

"During the flight from Parafield to Port Augusta, the pilot only consumed a bottle of Gatorade, some water and a chocolate bar during [a] stopover in Port Augusta," it read.

In April, a reportedly disruptive passenger leapt about 10 foot from an American Airlines plane soon after it landed in Phoenix, Arizona. Local police said the man opened the airplane's service door as he waited for the door to the jetway to open.

Passengers said the man had behaved aggressively from roughly an hour into the flight. Flight attendants attempted to calm the man and make him sit down before landing. They led him towards the front of the aircraft so he could leave the plane first, where police had been asked to meet him. But the man moved to the other side of the plane before making his impromptu exit. He was taken to hospital for minor injuries.

The same month, two passengers fought over a woman's bare feet on a Ryanair flight from Glasgow, Scotland to Tenerife, Spain. The men, who a fellow passenger said were intoxicated, brawled after one complained that the other's girlfriend was not wearing shoes.

The airline said the plane landed as normal and that local police had detained the two men involved. A video released to social media shows them grappling and punching each other.