<p>For safely landing a plane after its windshield was smashed by golf ball-sized hailstones, this Ukrainian pilot is being hailed as a hero, and rightly so! The ‘blind' emergency landing saved the lives of 121 passengers and six crew members that were onboard.</p> <p class="articleimg"><img id="ed-img" class="art-lazy imwidth-500" title="This Pilot Managed A Blind Landing In A Hailstorm" src="http://media.new.mensxp.com/media/content/2017/Aug/this-pilot-managed-a-blind-landing-in-a-hailstorm1-1501599011.jpg" alt="This Pilot Managed A Blind Landing In A Hailstorm" data-original="http://media.new.mensxp.com/media/content/2017/Aug/this-pilot-managed-a-blind-landing-in-a-hailstorm1-1501599011.jpg" />© Facebook</p> <p>The plane had just taken off from Erkan, Cyprus when it was hit by these huge hailstones, which shattered the windscreen and left the pilots unable to see anything. Then, Captain Alexander Akopov got special permission to land the plane at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, even though it was closed due to the storm. </p> <p class="articleimg"><img id="ed-img" class="art-lazy imwidth-full" title="This Pilot Managed A Blind Landing In A Hailstorm" src="http://media.new.mensxp.com/media/content/2017/Aug/this-pilot-managed-a-blind-landing-in-a-hailstorm2-1501599032.jpg" alt="This Pilot Managed A Blind Landing In A Hailstorm" data-original="http://media.new.mensxp.com/media/content/2017/Aug/this-pilot-managed-a-blind-landing-in-a-hailstorm2-1501599032.jpg" />© Facebook</p> <p>Even though in the video of the landing has people saying, “It won't be able to land, it won't land”, the plane did manage to land, and that too with everyone inside unharmed. </p> <p><iframe style="border:none;overflow:hidden" frameborder="0" height="400" allowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Foleg.lungul.96%2Fvideos%2F10155480259802707%2F&show_text=0&width=229" width="229"></iframe></p> <p>After landing Captain Akopov, who has been awarded Ukraine's Order for Courage, said, “I have been flying for 30 years. Well, did you see the plane landing? Was it OK? The passengers are alive. It is normal. This is our professional reliability.”</p> <p>Well, what a hail of a landing!</p> <p></p>