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Air carrier flight crew reported encountering heavy rain; hail; sever turbulence; and a lightning strike. Aircraft landed uneventfully; but did sustain hail damage to nose cone.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1320066 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201512 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.ARTCC |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Large Transport |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Descent |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Total 16000 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Total 8000 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
In our descent from FL340 to FL290 we entered clouds at FL300. Passing through 29500 feet; we encountered very heavy precipitation/hail; severe turbulence and a large flash of light at the left side of the nose of the aircraft. We perceived this flash of light as a possible lightning strike. During the severe turbulence phase of the event; the aircraft pitched up (approx. 15 degrees) and climbed with a vvi (vertical velocity indication) of 4600 fpm. The autopilot disengaged and control was manually taken over to correct attitude and altitude deviations. Auto thrust remained on and speed was manually selected. The flight landed uneventfully on a north flow into the airport. Walk around at the gate revealed hail damage to the nose of the aircraft. Aircraft was taken out of service for further inspection.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Air carrier flight crew reported encountering heavy rain; hail; sever turbulence; and a lightning strike. Aircraft landed uneventfully; but did sustain hail damage to nose cone.
Narrative: In our descent from FL340 to FL290 we entered clouds at FL300. Passing through 29500 feet; we encountered very heavy precipitation/hail; severe turbulence and a large flash of light at the left side of the nose of the aircraft. We perceived this flash of light as a possible lightning strike. During the severe turbulence phase of the event; the aircraft pitched up (approx. 15 degrees) and climbed with a VVI (Vertical Velocity Indication) of 4600 fpm. The autopilot disengaged and control was manually taken over to correct attitude and altitude deviations. Auto thrust remained on and speed was manually selected. The flight landed uneventfully on a north flow into the airport. Walk around at the gate revealed hail damage to the nose of the aircraft. Aircraft was taken out of service for further inspection.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.