This is a repost from a different forum.

"Our Boeing 727 BAX aircraft flight 705BX encountered severe weather over Alberta Canada. The aircraft was cruising at 35,000 feet

when it encountered tennis ball sized hail. The pictures below show some of the damage."
http://www.mustangevolution.com/forum/t25030

"Whistling" Dan Roman wouldn't have quit.

Wow. I am mightily impressed that the engines survived that.

Isn't the on-board radar supposed to pick up hail so that they can fly around/over it?

I suppose that is COULD have just started up when and where they happened to be flying, but would huge hail start out as little hail and get worse over time so that you have enough time to react? I lived most of my life in Florida, so I do not know much about hail.

Hmm. The pictures are real, but the story and the dates superimposed on the pictures likely aren't.

Given a warning, you might be able to fly around it, but probably not over it.

Hail is formed in the updraft of cumulonimbus clouds (thunderclouds), which can easily reach 50,000'. The absolute altitude limit of a Boeing 727 is 42,000.

I guess sometimes there's just nowhere to run.

Sue

Here's Snopes take on it: