After his windshield was shattered by an insane hailstorm, this pilot managed to land the plane blindly using his devices only!
All 127 passengers safely arrived at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport!
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Capt Akopov has been hailed a hero (Image: TSN / east2west news)
Capt Akopov said the plane was hit by hailstones “as big as hen’s eggs”, which left a huge gash in the jet and disabled the autopilot.
He and other crew were celebrating as if it was a “second birthday” after they brought the plane down safely.
Capt Akopov said: “I have been flying for 30 years. Well, did you see the plane landing? Was it okay? The passengers are alive. It is normal.
“This is our professional reliability. Our locator did not show this weather disaster, this is why it happened.
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Terrified passengers desperately cling on (Image: YouTube / east2west)
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Plane on terrifying approach (Image: YouTube / east2west)
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The plane as it came safely in to land (Image: YouTube / east2west)
“It was hard, but the main thing is that people are alive.”
The catastrophe hit 10 minutes after the Atlasglobal plane took off to Erkan in Northern Cyprus.
Having climbed to 1,300 meters, the hailstones cracked the cockpit windows preventing the pilot from seeing his approach to land.
The captain was permitted to try and land at Ataturk airport even though it had been closed due to the atrocious weather.
A full-scale emergency was in place with fire appliances and ambulances awaiting the plane.
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The airport erupted into applause when the pilot brought the plane down (Image: social media / east2west news)
A video shows a woman with red nails gripping a seat because of the plane’s extreme shaking during the landing.
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko called the captain to congratulate him and awarded him with the Ukrainian Order of Courage.
Aviation experts also praised the two Turkisk cabin crew for their bravery and people waiting in the airport broke out in applause when the jet landed safely.
The pilots of other planes greeted the plane by flashing lights and came aboard to shake the pilots’ hands.
Hailstones the size of golf balls and heavy rain battered Istanbul on Thursday in a freak storm that flooded roads, felled trees and brought air traffic and rush hour transport to a standstill in Turkey’s biggest city.