I'm attending one of the major flight schools down in FL, not too far from
Charley's Path, as it was all i saw was rain, not even much wind, nevermind
just 50 miles away it was raining destruction. They decided not to evacuate
our aircraft primarilly cus there wasn't really a place to take them! Bonnie
had torn across the panhandle area/northern peninsula, and there was still
significant convective activity in her wake, not exactly something you want
to fly through. We were already on the opposite side of the peninsula as
the landfall, moving inland would have meant moving to a higher risk area.
Now lets consider what's going on with the family. Is it more important to
move a replacable airplane hundreds of miles away, possibly leaving your
family behind to face the storm on their own, or is it more important to
Board up your windows, secure your home as best as you can, get your family
to safety, and somewhere along the lines find 15 miniutes to run to the
airport and do the best you can to secure the plane? I for one put my
priority on the family then the airplane. Sadly its a nasty choice to make,
cus most insurance companies will NOT cover damage induced by a hurricane,
so if the airplane is trashed, and they still owe 100k on it they are
literally screwed. On the other hand the airplane is a lot easier to
replace than a dead spouse or child that you left behind and didn't
adequately protect.

Now while i sit safely in my premanufactured apartment building wondering
weather it will meet the same fate as those buildings down in Punta, I have
to wonder why peopel are still allowed to buy mobile homes down here,
figured Hurricane Andrew would have taught enough lessons about that.
Surely there is some way to creat cheap housing that won't blow itself to
bits when the wind gets nasty.




"Andy Asberry" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 13:52:25 -0700, Richard RIley
wrote:

The latest storm tracks show Charlie set to skim Pinellas County
around noon tomorrow. That's not good news for Lakeland, since it
will be hit by the north east corner of the storm. Lakeland will get
the worst rain and winds.

I'll have a candle lit for all the folks there.

I don't live near the coast but this is something I've wondered about
for years.

A hurricane is not like a freak tornado or hail storm. We have been
tracking this thing since its birth. Why do owners not move their air
worthy aircraft out of the path or at least farther inland where the
winds are likely to be less damaging? Almost any plane could reach
safety in 3 or 4 hours. To a lesser extent, same question for boats.

It just makes sense to me to get off the track when you can see the
train coming.