Hurricane Wilma Damages

I originally planned on taking the plane north to Georgia, with a departure
on Friday, Oct. 21st. On Thursday the 20th, the storm had stalled and was
weakening over Mexico, with a possible landfall someone near my front
driveway at 2:00pm on Monday. Saturday the storm broke into the Gulf, and
NWS predicted it would weaken, arriving on Florida's west coast as a CAT one
hurricane. This normally means as it moves over land to our shores, it would
slow to a tropical storm. It didn't. The storm surge came in Sunday morning,
and by 11:00am the eye was over my kitchen. No wind, almost sunny. 30
minutes later, the backside of the storm rolled over, with an enormous
force. At least we don't get earthquakes (yet).

In terms of tie downs, I have one under each wing and at the tail. I used
nylon strap similar to seat belt material, and doubled up with nylon boat
rope. The wind was strong enough to tear all six straps. Never seen this
before. The entire field at Lantana was smashed.



"nrp" wrote in message
oups.com...
Did the ramp tiedown anchors or lines fail? Were any of the tie down
rings in the aircraft broken or pulled out? Were all 4 tie down rings
used (for that matter are there that many in your 152?)

Obviously a lot of damage was due to loose aircraft blowing around and
into each other, but the number that ended up inverted is staggering.

Assuming many A/C took a major storm wind blast from the front as well
as the rear, might exterior wood clamping systems on the control
surface have helped? There have to be some lessons here.

It is terrible to have to tie an airplane down outside. Really sorry
for your loss.