On Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 8:22:15 PM UTC-8, Paul Hanson wrote:
It is with great sadness that I inform you of the destruction
of Sisu 1a, s/n 101, N6390X.
We had a big storm blow through Avenal Ca and there
was much damage. She was tied out (claw anchors, ratchet
straps with screw shackles, wings on stands, tail elevated)
but the ground liquefied and it was blowing at a steady
60mph, gusting higher.
I found the ship on it's back, about 650 feet from
where I parked it, complete with said claw anchors/spikes/ratchet
straps/shackles. The 1-35 next to the Sisu was tied
up the same but was unharmed, fortunately for IT'S
owner. Although the 1-35 was hanging on by it's fingernails
it was still hanging on and any other portable tiedown
would have simply failed, and much sooner. The only
difference between our tiedown jobs, was his were spiked
in 2 months ago and mine were in since May or so (bad
idea). He is actually lucky that his ship was out there,
because his open trailer it goes on was significantly
overlapped by the Libelle trailer that was next to
it and would have been badly damaged/destroyed were
it there still.
We also had a 2-33 break chains and fly across the
street, landing on it's nose and back, 2 hangers destroyed
as well as the collapse of our new hanger that was
under construction. There was lots more damage at the
airfield as well as all over the county, with doors/roofs
ripped off buildings downed powerlines/trees etc. It
looked as if a tornado went through, but it was just
damn windy as well as completely saturated (the mud
here is very slick due to the fine particulate nature
of the dirt).
Pat, if you're reading this, I got lots of pics to
show you...

In Tears,
Paul Hanson

PS. Please allow me to grieve in peace, I DO know proper
tiedown practices, and regularly school others on the
subject (painful irony). My ship was not supposed to
be out there this month either, but...

Hi Paul. Came across this post and don't know if you are still active in soaring or not. My 89 yr old father has one of the last production Sisu's and needs to get rid of it. It is not completed. Fuselage is skinned, and he has the aluminum skins for the wings, but it would take some building, and the right person to get this historic piece of aviation in the air. If you yourself, or anyone you know of, may be interested, please let me know. Trying to find a good home for it.