B737 FLT CREW EXPERIENCES ACFT DAMAGE FROM HAIL WHILE ON APCH TO PHX.

Narrative

ON THE BUNTR 1 ARR INTO PHOENIX. WE WERE PAINTING A LINE OF TSTMS TO THE W OF THE APCH AND UPON REACHING THE SLIDR FIX; ASKED FOR DIRECT TO HOMRR TO AVOID GETTING TOO CLOSE TO THE WALL OF TSTMS. WE WERE TOLD BY ZAB THAT IF WE FLEW THE FULL APCH WE WOULD BE ABLE TO GET INTO PHX AS EVERYONE ELSE HAD. WE LOOKED AT THE RADAR PICTURE AND AGREED THAT THE HDG TO THE FIXES ON THE ARR WOULD KEEP US OUT OF THE WX. WE STARTED OUR DSCNT FROM FL340 TO CROSS HOMRR AT 12000 FT AND 250 KIAS. AS WE STARTED OUR DSCNT; WE NOTED THAT THE OUTSIDE AIR TEMP WAS WARMER THAN NORMAL AND WE WOULD NOT NEED ANTI-ICE SHOULD WE ENCOUNTER ANY CLOUDS DURING THE DSCNT. WE DID NOT FLY THROUGH ANY CLOUDS THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE DSCNT OR FOR THAT MATTER DURING THE ENTIRE APCH. WE DSNDED AT A MORE RAPID RATE THAN NORMAL TO BE ABLE TO GET DOWN TO 12000 FT EARLY TO ALLOW US TIME TO LOOK ON THE RADAR ALONG OUR FLT PATH TO SURVEY THE WX. UPON REACHING 12000 FT WE WERE BELOW THE WX AND THE VISIBILITY TOWARD PHX WAS UNLIMITED. I ESTIMATE THE DISTANCE BELOW THE WX TO BE 500-1000 FT WITH THE WX SHOWING A SMOOTH BOTTOM AND NO VIRGA OR RAIN SHOWERS VISIBLE ALONG OR NEAR OUR FLT PATH. WE LOOKED ON THE RADAR AND ALL THE WX WAS ABOVE US ONCE AGAIN. THE ENRTE TEMP WAS WARMER THAN FREEZING AND WAS NOTED BY BOTH PLTS. BOTH ZAB AND NOW PHX APCH HAD TOLD US THAT EVERYONE WAS GETTING THROUGH BY FLYING THE PRESCRIBED RTE IN TO PHX. AT APPROX 45 DME FROM PXR VOR WE WERE HIT WITH A DELUGE OF HVY; HVY; RAIN (SO I THOUGHT) THAT LASTED FOR APPROX 10 SECONDS AND THEN WE WERE COMPLETELY IN THE CLEAR. I WATCHED THE DELUGE FOR ANY SIGN OF HAIL AND THERE WAS NONE. BOTH OF US THOUGHT IT WAS RAIN. DURING THE RAIN DELUGE THE ACFT WAS CTLABLE AND STAYING ENGAGED TO THE AUTOPLT; BUT THE GAUGES WERE UNREADABLE AND THE RIDE WAS BAD. THE FLT ATTENDANTS AND THE PAX/CABIN HAD BEEN SECURED AT LEAST 10 MINS PRIOR BECAUSE WE EXPECTED IT TO BE BUMPY DURING DSCNT. APCH CTL WAS SATURATED WITH VOICE XMISSIONS AND WE COULD NOT GET A WORD IN TO TELL THEM TO SHUT OFF THE ARR FOR SEVERAL MINS. HAD WE HAD ANY INCLINATION THAT THERE WAS HAIL OR EVEN HVY RAIN IN THAT AREA; WE WOULD NOT HAVE PROCEEDED. THE ACFT FLEW NORMALLY AND WE LANDED UNEVENTFULLY. THE DAMAGE WAS DISCOVERED ON POSTFLT. WE WERE CLR OF THE WX ABOVE US WITH NO INCLINATION OF ANYTHING ADVERSE TO OUR ARR. LIVE AND LEARN. I WILL GIVE THE TSTMS A WIDER BERTH FROM NOW ON.