Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Distraction; Time Pressure; Workload; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Weather; Procedure; Human Factors; Aircraft; MEL
There had been a ground stop for passing storms to the east; which were now 1/3 of the way between ZZZ and ZZZ1. The Captain gave a briefing and asked the Flight Attendants to remain seated the entire flight due to the cells we'd be flying around and the potential for turbulence. He also made this part of his welcome aboard announcement.We took off and were given a 090 heading; transitioning north of the group of cells. This group of cells gave us a small option north toward ZZZ2 VOR and a small option south between cells. Neither path had a significant advantage over the other.Once we were abeam the northern track; ATC gave us a hole they depicted on their radar to our 1 o'clock position. We opted to continue straight; but ATC said straight looked worse to them. We conversed back and forth with them and the hole appeared to our right and clear skies on the back side. We maneuvered right; then left to make a perpendicular path through the hole. The bottom of the hole was higher than our altitude and we were given a climb from 17;000 to FL210. We tried to establish this climb at 250 kts. to stay slow for possible turbulence. This was made difficult by the fact we had an MEL for the speed bug. The speed bug jumped from the upper 200s into the lower 300s; back and forth throughout the flight. It was distracting and was the first time either of us had experienced this particular anomaly in nearly four years. Just prior to penetration; we could see heavy lightning coming from the cells immediately left of our path; extending toward the area we were originally going toward.As we climbed to FL210; we penetrated the lower portion of the hole and into IMC. Throughout the encounter; we had moderate turbulence and heavy to extreme rain. Our ice detection caution message activated; as well.We estimate the pass took 30 to 45 seconds to transition. I tried to transmit to ATC not to send anyone behind us; but never received a response.Once in clear air; I tried ATC again and they said they'd been trying to reach us to say the hole had closed up on their scope. We never their transmission either.In discussion after passing into clear air; neither of us felt we'd encountered hail. The sound of the rain striking the window and body of the aircraft were consistent with heavy to extreme rain.I checked on the Flight Attendants to make sure they were ok and to make sure the passengers were ok; and everyone was. We landed without incident and discovered damage during the walk around.The first area I noticed was the radome. There were extensive areas where the paint had been removed and the composite material underneath was exposed. There were three areas where horizontal slices in the composite material were visible. There was at least one area where a circular area was compromised. Most of the damaged paint and material were on the upper half of the radome. There was one hole that was previously covered during the preflight inspection that was now exposed due to speed tape coming off the aircraft. We conducted numerous; slow and methodical visual inspections of the exterior of the aircraft over the course of the next two hours. The only other damage was an unidentified antenna on the top of the aircraft. It was located aft of the VHF 1 antenna and forward of the upper beacon. POH and PRM (Pilot's Reference Manual) searches failed to produce an identity to this antenna; and might possibly be a wifi antenna installed after manufacturer documents were printed.The Captain notified [Maintenance Control]; the Chief Pilots; and Dispatch and briefed them on the incident and the status of the aircraft. Our Contract Maintenance arrived about an hour later and began making an evaluation of the damage. Our return flight was eventually cancelled and we rode the brakes for Ground Personnel while they repositioned the aircraft. We left the aircraft with Maintenance and proceeded to the hotel. After the flight; the Captain and I debriefed our flight and the incident. The flight attendants and the passengers were secured at the time due to crew briefings and the announcement that the seat belt sign would stay on and the flight attendants would remain seated throughout the flight. As previously noted; we had north and south options that were basically equal. Since our radar conflicted somewhat with ATC; we applied their observations into our decision making process in accordance with good CRM procedures. We had convection on our left and right sides and clear blue skies ahead. Our ability to climb over the IMC we entered could have been better facilitated if we began our climb sooner; however there was a small layer that obstructed our view and we were too close to the hole when the height of that IMC was determined. Again; this was further complicated by not having our heading bug to help with pitch reference and avoid a lower than desired speed or increasing over the turbulence penetration speed.
CRJ-900 First Officer reported numerous diversions and deviations while navigating through severe weather; exacerbated by an MELed speed bug resulting in hail damage when finally reaching destination airport.