Only 80 minutes into its flight after took off from Sao Paulo, Brazil on Wednesday, the plane flew through a severe hailstorm over the province of Misiones, Argentina.
Wind gusts of up to 200km/hr battered the plane and the aircraft was forced to descend 1,500 metres before it made an emergency landing at Ezeiza airport at Buenos Aires.
All the passengers were promptly transferred to other flights and made it to their final destination in Chile.
The damaged plane has been kept at the airport in Buenos Aires.
Comment: This type of event appears to be on the increase in recent years judging from the following reports: Passenger plane over China forced to make emergency landing after windscreen is badly damaged in hailstorm
Severe hailstorm smashes windshield, nose of American Airlines plane, forces emergency landing in Texas
Rome to Milan plane encounters violent hailstorm, destroys its nose cone and shatters cockpit window
What's up with the weather? Huge hail stones damage multiple commercial planes
Not surprisingly these types of extreme weather incidents are also impacting our avian friends: Hailstorm kills 9,000 migrating birds at Antelope Island, Utah
Hundreds of birds killed by hailstorm in Ballari, India
Hailstorm kills and injures over 200 birds across Ahmedabad, India
At least 5,000 birds killed by hailstorm in Bangladesh