I wonder if any of those guys got hurt and how this will affect Zenith. The 601 with the folding wings hurt them enough. Also I would suspect that the crowd that does the assembly in Eastman, GA was there. They sure can’t take any bad hits.
Apparently they were torn off, some of the planes were actually torn into. I’ve had one flipped over in the wind and it didn’t look like some of those that I have seen on the aviation web sites. They are a mess.
Actually, very few of the light sport people are insured for hull damage. The average cost you see for the planes damaged runs between $75,000.00 to $120,00.00. Most insurance companies only offer liability type insurance for those type aircraft. The cost of a Rotex 912S is now close to $20,000.00 with the rebuild cost at about $8,000.00. For the people who lost their planes, who love to fly, and can’t afford to repair what they have lost, yes it is a major disaster.
I picked up a lot of chatter from the Sonex website to include a few folks that were there. They said it was a mess. The storm hit a very contested area that they say is now gone. RV also has a lot of pictures on their site. Don’t know how Cessna made out, but a lot of damage was near a building that they own there.
I called Gary Ward of airshow fame who was supposed to be there. Gary had some plane problems and was still in his hangar in Lincolnton, GA.