# Hail

- Type: NTSB finding subsection
- Path: [Environmental issues](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03) › [Conditions/weather/phenomena](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/0303) › [Convective weather](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/030330) › Hail
- NTSB code: 03033030
- Cases: 4
- In the probable cause: 2
- Fatal cases: 2
- All cases: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03033030/cases.md
- Cases with it in the probable cause: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03033030/cases.md?cause=1
- Page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03033030

## Cases per year (in the probable cause / all)

- 2012: 1 / 2
- 2016: 0 / 1
- 2025: 1 / 1

## Defining events in these cases

- [Windshear or thunderstorm](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/390): 4 cases

## Aircraft models (registry)

- [Cessna 421C](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-421c): 1 cases
- [Boeing 737-7H4](https://openairdocs.org/model/boeing-737-7h4): 1 cases
- [Firefly Balloons FIREFLY 8](https://openairdocs.org/model/firefly-balloons-firefly-8): 1 cases
- [Cessna 162](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-162): 1 cases

## Other findings in the same cases

- [Decision making/judgment](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02041520) (Personnel issues): 3 cases
- [Thunderstorm](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03033010) (Environmental issues): 2 cases
- [Windshear](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03034020) (Environmental issues): 1 cases
- [Weather planning](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02061020) (Personnel issues): 1 cases
- [Wing structure, general](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01035700) (Aircraft): 1 cases
- [Empennage structure, general](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01035500) (Aircraft): 1 cases

## Newest cases

- [NTSB DCA25LA197](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/DCA25LA197), May 2, 2025: Boeing 737 (N247WN), Centerville, TN, substantial damage. Probable cause: An encounter with hail during descent.
- [NTSB CEN16LA163](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CEN16LA163), Apr 21, 2016: Cessna 162 (N5217S), Zionsville, IN, substantial damage. Probable cause: The flight instructor’s improper decision to depart on a local instructional flight in rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, including thunderstorms and hail, which resulted in subsequent impact…
- [NTSB CEN13FA073](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CEN13FA073), Nov 27, 2012: Cessna 421C (N67SR), Wells, TX, substantial damage, 1 fatal. Probable cause: The pilot’s decision to continue the flight into an area of extreme weather, which led to the in-flight encounter with a thunderstorm and structural failure of the wings and tail.
- [NTSB ERA12LA231](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/ERA12LA231), Mar 16, 2012: Firefly Balloons Firefly 8 (N14643), Fitzgerald, GA, substantial damage, 1 fatal. Probable cause: The pilot's intentional flight into adverse weather. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to obtain a weather briefing and his failure to follow the balloon manufacturer's published…

NTSB has coded findings and defining events since 2008; earlier cases used its older occurrence and cause codes and aren't counted.

Findings: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings.md. Defining events: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events.md. Phases of flight: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-phases.md. Every investigation, filtered by finding, event, phase, state, year or model: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb.md (for example ?state=MI&fatal=1).

NTSB's definitions: Accident and incident, 49 CFR 830.2 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-VIII/part-830/subpart-A/section-830.2), CICTT occurrence categories (PDF) (https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/data/Documents/datafiles/OccurrenceCategoryDefinitions.pdf), CICTT phases of flight (PDF) (https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/data/Documents/datafiles/PhaseofFlightDefinitions.pdf), and NTSB coding manual, before 2008 (PDF) (https://www.ntsb.gov/GILS/Documents/codman.pdf). NTSB publishes no definitions for its findings, only their names.

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