Many display aircraft were destroyed. Aviat Aircraft of Afton, Wyo., was especially hard hit. A new Husky on amphibious floats was tossed by the storm into several other display aircraft, causing severe damage.
Posted on 03/31/2011 1:40:59 PM PDT by U S Army EOD
Sun n' Fun has been hit by strong storms and probable tornado damaging or destroying many aircraft. Several injuries and some structural damage to buildings. The Zenith line took a direct hit. This is on the news and several websites.
Many display aircraft were destroyed. Aviat Aircraft of Afton, Wyo., was especially hard hit. A new Husky on amphibious floats was tossed by the storm into several other display aircraft, causing severe damage.
From the headline I suspected that there was a crash and that spectators were injured.
NOT BREAKING NEWS
7 Injured In Tent Collapse At Airport
I'm guessing the person with the broken hip and the other six would disagree with you.
Fox news would disagree with you plus several folks that I have talked to that were there. Seven injuries, so far reported.
From the SUN-N-Fun Facebook Page:
Many of you have heard about the weather we had at SUN ‘n FUN today. We know a lot of conflicting and confusing information was being thrown out, even some from normally reliable sources that turned out to be, fortunately, incorrect. We knew there was a lot of conjecture swirling around in addition to the wind and rain, and we didn’t want to add to the confusion by giving out bad or incomplete information, so we appreciate your patience! Here’s what we know:
We had a very brief but powerful storm cell sweep through our area earlier today. It got very dark, very windy, and very rainy in a very short amount of time. We cannot yet confirm that it was actually a tornado versus just a very severe thunderstorm. Either way, it was unpleasant.
The storm did cause damage to the show grounds, but no permanent structures collapsed. Reports of one of our hangers collapsing and trapping 70 people were incorrect. To our knowledge, no one was trapped or even seriously hurt at SUN ‘n FUN. A temporary office trailer at the airport, off SnF property was flipped over by the wind, and that is the “collapsed” structure being shown on some news sources. As far as we know, no one was in the trailer.
There was significant damage to several exhibitor tents and displays, and a number of aircraft were damaged, displaced from their tie-downs or flipped. We have no official count, but from what we saw as we left campus, the number is probably closer to the 40 that Bay News 9 reported, than the 200 that some others have posted on Facebook.
We once again want to thank everyone at SnF that helped in response to the rapidly unfolding storm. We also want to thank all of you who posted your thoughts and support here and on Twitter. Clean-up is now ongoing, and we plan to open the gates at 8am, though it may not be business as “usual” right away.
The forecast for the rest of the weekend is clear and sunny, and we will have an airshow tomorrow (as well as Saturday and Sunday). Due to the weather, neither the Blue Angels or the F-22 arrived today, but as far as we know, both plan to arrive tomorrow and perform.
We will give you more updates as we get them!
“Fox news [makes it a major story]”
Yup! That’s what Fox News does. Unfortunately they take something with potential and turn it into a populist TV station with the only intent to keep eyes glued to the television and maximize ad revenue.
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.
I take it you were not sitting in that nice Zenith 750 that was on its back.
MAJOR DISASTER!!!
>> Nobody injured and some property damaged. The Headline is clearly misleading
I agree. Warrants (No Injuries) in title.
That is not going to buff out...
7 people injured is a major disaster? And breaking news? So every automobile accident with multiple injuries will be breaking news, with a headline like that? haha (Ok, some overturned small planes makes it a little more interesting, but still the headline is very misleading, and shouldn’t be breaking.)
Nice thing about building your own aircraft is that you are qualified as a repairman, so you can fix it yourself. Most of these aircraft will fly again.
These guys probably missed being in the shop, anyway...
You are getting the range, you have it bracketed, keep shooting.
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