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.

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.

There has to be better tiedown material than nylon.
It elongates 20%-30%. Not good when you want to keep something in place.

"Marty from Florida" marty@-x-x-x- remove -x-x- worth.net wrote in message
...
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.

Marty is exactly right. Using exactly the same logic after listening to
the same forecasts, I initially came to the decision to leave the shutters off
of my patio door (I live just east of Lantana airport). At sundown the day
before the storm, I came to my senses and installed the shutters in the dark.
Someone in Boca Raton left the shutter off of their patio door (like I almost
did) and was crushed when it blew in. Marty took a risk with an insured Cessna;
I was about to take that same risk with my home and my life. Which one of us is
the smarter?

Aircraft ownership cuts both ways. While preparing for our FIRST hurricane
last year, I was reflecting that I was happy to be a renter pilot because that
was one less thing to worry about. Three weeks later when the NEXT hurricane
was bearing down on us, I was thinking how nice it would be to own a plane so
that I could fly me and the Mrs. out of the path of the storm (the roads were
hopelessly jammed).

Sorry Marty. Glad you are OK. There are more airplanes out there.


Vaughn (Lantana FL)