Avweb has the dreadful pictures up

http://www.avweb.com/news/features/187931-1.html

Icebound wrote:



http://www.avweb.com/news/features/187931-1.html

As a relatively new aircraft owner who has seen these pictures from
other hurricanes, I don't understand why these owners wouldn't have
flown their airplanes to safety during the few days prior to the event.


--
Peter

"Peter R." wrote in message
...
Icebound wrote:



http://www.avweb.com/news/features/187931-1.html

As a relatively new aircraft owner who has seen these pictures from
other hurricanes, I don't understand why these owners wouldn't have
flown their airplanes to safety during the few days prior to the event.

Many owners will, but in this case Charley took a different path than
projected. It is possible that some owners thought they were flying their
planes to safety and instead flew right into the path of the hurricane.

Other owners probably thought their planes were safe inside hangars. Still
others know how to tie their airplanes down properly, but forgot that does
not protect them from improperly tied down airplanes and other debris.

Then there are the people with unairworthy aircraft, owners who themselves
may have been sick or incapacitated, owners with more than one airplane who
had time to save only one, absentee owners or owners on vacation, etc. A
huge number of the airplanes that are on leaseback at FBOs are rarely if
ever seen by their owners.

Add to that the usual percentage of people who are complacent or who are
hoping that destruction of their current airplane will enable them to
collect enough insurance to buy a better one and you have a lot of airplanes
that simply did not move.

Looks like some poor Bonanza owner did a really good job of tying the plane
down, but the plane actually pulled the tiedown block right out of the
pavement! The wings look like the stress was too much.

"Peter R." wrote:

As a relatively new aircraft owner who has seen these pictures from
other hurricanes, I don't understand why these owners wouldn't have
flown their airplanes to safety during the few days prior to the event.

Generally, by the time they know where the 'cane is going to hit, it's too late to
move anything. I guess you could just move the plane to, say, Kentucky around the
first of August and leave it there until October.

George Patterson
If you want to know God's opinion of money, just look at the people
he gives it to.

I have a nice place here in Tennessee that I'll gladly rent to anyone who
wants it.....of course, I'll need to take your planes up on occasion to
"stir the oil". I'd hate to see them sit there and get all funky.
Naturally, the fee for this "service" will be nominal.......


"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


"Peter R." wrote:

As a relatively new aircraft owner who has seen these pictures from
other hurricanes, I don't understand why these owners wouldn't have
flown their airplanes to safety during the few days prior to the event.

Generally, by the time they know where the 'cane is going to hit, it's too
late to
move anything. I guess you could just move the plane to, say, Kentucky
around the
first of August and leave it there until October.

George Patterson
If you want to know God's opinion of money, just look at the people
he gives it to.

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


"Peter R." wrote:

As a relatively new aircraft owner who has seen these pictures from
other hurricanes, I don't understand why these owners wouldn't have
flown their airplanes to safety during the few days prior to the event.

Generally, by the time they know where the 'cane is going to hit, it's too
late to
move anything.

Even in the '70s, we had no trouble in the Air Force evacuating the planes
out of the way of typhoons and hurricanes. I remember going to Japan to sit
out a typhoon while it swept over our families at Clark. A duty officer was
assigned back home to check on our families. His report was that although
there was a lot of damage and that power and water were off, most of the
families were OK, "except for Campbell."

He found Jane in the back yard having set up garbage cans to catch rain
water. Everything that was likely to tip over and cause damage was already
tipped over and fastened down and the windows blocked and taped. The house
looked like a fortress. Jane was already running around the neighborhood,
delivering food and supplies to neighbors, passing messages, etc., in our
Subaru. The duty officer thought she was the most extreme example of
emergency preparedness that he had ever heard of. His comment was that
having a wife like that probably explains a lot about Campbell.

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote:
Generally, by the time they know where the 'cane is going to hit,
it's too late to move anything. I guess you could just move the
plane to, say, Kentucky around the
first of August and leave it there until October.

Well, it's always a judgement call, but it's not *that* hard. I will move
mine if Hurricane Earl, for example is forecast to hit anywhere on the
central Gulf Coast within two days. If I'd been parking my airplane just
about anywhere on the west coast of Florida last week, I'd have flown it out
Wednesday.

It takes a direct hit from an extremely strong storm to do the kind of
damage seen in those pictures. Hurricane Danny came right up Mobile Bay a
few years ago and paused with its center less than ten miles from BFM.

http://www.southalabama.edu/meteorol...canedanny.html

No aircraft were seriously damaged on the airport, even though some were
left tied down outside.
--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM

As a relatively new aircraft owner who has seen these pictures from
other hurricanes, I don't understand why these owners wouldn't have
flown their airplanes to safety during the few days prior to the event.

The storm was predicted to enter Tampa.
I made a turn long before it got there.
Some folks fled Tampa and went in land, only to be in the eye of the storm.

"Peter R." wrote in message

As a relatively new aircraft owner who has seen these pictures from
other hurricanes, I don't understand why these owners wouldn't have
flown their airplanes to safety during the few days prior to the event.

After hurricane Andrew I went down to Baton Rouge to help my girlfriend out.
She worked at an FBO at the airport there that looked somewhat similar.
What had happened is that people along the coast and in New Orleans had
determined that they were going to be hit, so they all flew their planes to
Baton Rouge for safety. Andrew took an unexpected turn, missed New Orleans
and pounded Baton Rouge. The FBO looked like an airplane junkyard. Folks
should have flown further north, I guess.

-c