Pilots make emergency landing after being 'blinded' as baseball-sized hailstones shatter windscreen

A plane was forced into an emergency landing after the windshield was shattered by "baseball-sized" hailstones, leaving the pilots unable to see.

The hailstones also wrecked the GPS navigation systems on the aircraft, which was flying from Boston to Salt Lake City on Friday night.

The pilots decided to make an emergency landing when the windshield cracked, reportedly leaving passengers panicked on board.

They were forced to use the plane’s automatic guiding system because of their limited visibility before safely touching down in Denver.

Posting an image of the Airbus 320’s damaged front, Instagram user Beau Sorenson said: “'So that is my airplane. Glad to be alive.”

Mr Sorenson told The Weather Channel: “The pilot warned us of a little chop as he was routed between 2 storms.

“The next thing we know, we are bouncing around in some very big turbulence.”

Another passenger, Rob Wessman told ABC, that people were “holding hands and others were crying”.