It only takes 5 seconds of hail to damage an airplane mid-flight, expert says. Photos show how destructive it can be.

An Austrian Airlines flight went viral this week after experiencing a hailstorm on Sunday, which ripped off part of the plane’s nose and shattered the cabin windows. And one expert told CBS News that while incidents like this are rare, they can happen very easily — and very quickly.

The incident involved Austrian Airlines flight OS434, en route from Palma de Mallorca to Vienna, the airline told CBS News. As can be seen in the photos shared by passengers and passersby, the airline also confirmed that the two front windows of the cockpit and the nose of the aircraft, also known as the radome, were damaged, as well as “some covers”. An investigation is ongoing.

“Due to the damage, a distress call was made to Mayday,” an airline spokesperson said. “The aircraft managed to land safely at Vienna-Schwechat airport. All passengers on the flight were unharmed.”

The spokesperson also confirmed that “the incident only lasted a few seconds.” According to meteorologist Renny Vandewege, general manager of meteorological and climate intelligence at DTN, this is enough to cause damage.

He told CBS News that “because of the high speed of a plane, hail doesn’t have to be that large to cause damage to an aircraft.”

“The radome, in the nose of the plane, is particularly vulnerable due to the thin material used in that part of the plane,” he said. “Because of the speed of the aircraft, just a 5-second exposure to hail can break the nose and cabin windows.”

However, he added that few planes It has even been caught in hail pits because of onboard radar systems. In most situations, these types of weather systems are avoided, he said.

Austrian Airlines told CBS News that Sunday’s situation happened after the plane encountered a storm cell while approaching Vienna, and that “according to the cabin crew, [it] it wasn’t visible on the weather radar.” Single cell stormsaccording to NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, they are “small, brief, weak thunderstorms that grow and die in about an hour” and are known for producing brief, heavy rainfall and lightning.

It’s in the storm’s core where things can be particularly dangerous, Vandewege said, as that’s where the updraft is maximum.

“It’s the input to the storm’s energy source originating at the surface, where the storm ingests warm, moist air,” he said. “…These updrafts are what allow storms to produce hail because they can circulate the ice up and down with the storm until it becomes too heavy to circulate. Therefore, storms with the strongest updrafts can produce the greater hail.”

As increase in global temperature, so does the frequency and intensity of extreme weather, including thunderstorms. And while flying through hail can quickly become harmful, Vandewege said that doesn’t mean flying isn’t safe.

He told CBS News that construction materials “are constantly evolving” to make aircraft “lighter and stronger” and that the information and technology used to prevent hail are also undergoing substantial advancements.

“Of course, keeping your seat belt on, whether light or not, is also recommended,” he said. “…Considering the level of advancement in evasion technology, I don’t think there is any more reason to fear storm safety than before. In fact, the past was more dangerous for relying on weaker technology for evasion.”