Any other "Riddle" grads out there?


Embry-Riddle Fleet Ravaged By Tornadoes

About 60 airplanes were damaged or destroyed when tornadoes tore through the Daytona Beach, Fla., campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on Christmas Day. Two tornadoes with winds of about 120 mph tore a 100-foot-wide swath through the center of campus as a line of violent thunderstorms passed across the region. "The maintenance hangar was destroyed and there was damage to a high percentage of the fleet of planes," said a statement posted Christmas night on ERAU's Web site. "There is substantial damage to several buildings on campus, including the administration building, Spruance Hall, and the Student Center. The campus was closed for the holiday, and nobody was hurt. "Thank God," ERAU President John Johnson told the Daytona Beach News-Journal. "It's a real blessing it happened when it did. No one was injured." A few students were staying in dormitories, but they were not hit. "The recovery is already under way and every effort is being made to have everything operational when classes resume in January -- including using rental planes for the flight line," ERAU said. The school operates about 85 aircraft. According to an update posted on Wednesday evening, the start of the spring semester has been delayed from Jan. 10 to Jan. 16 to allow more time to clean up and perform building repairs.


Fire, Fuel Problems Quickly Mitigated
Some of the airplanes were flipped over, some had wings torn off, and some were thrown against a building, ERAU Director of Communications Jim Hampton told Central Florida News 13. Two or three airplanes were inside the maintenance hangar when it collapsed. A piece from an airplane that tore through the wall of a building sparked a fire, but airport firefighters quickly brought it under control, Hampton said. Hazmat teams also dealt quickly with spilled fuel. The campus is currently closed to visitors until it is declared safe by authorities. More than 200 homes in the area were also damaged. About 10 people were reported injured, but nobody was killed.


Christmas Tornadoes Are Rare
The weather system brought at least two confirmed F2 tornadoes to the region, according to the Weather Channel. On the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale, an F2 tornado packs winds of 113 to 157 mph, and can do considerable damage, including tearing roofs off frame houses, demolishing mobile homes, overturning boxcars, snapping or uprooting large trees, generating light-object missiles and lifting cars off the ground. The last time a tornado occurred on Christmas was an F2 in Tennessee in 1982, TWC said. The storm system has moved out into the Atlantic and quiet weather is expected most of this week for the cleaning up. The next threat of bad weather in the region will be Friday night into Saturday, according to TWC.

http://www.avweb.com/newspics/erau_damage1.jpg http://www.avweb.com/newspics/erau_damage2.jpg

Source: Avweb (http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/771-full.html#194086)

Those images are hard to see or believe...having been around that atmosphere/surroundings for many years, class of '99.

I am making a donation through Eagle's Nest(alumni club) on the erau website. I feel for the students, who now are delayed for an undetermined period of time. Hope things get back to normal asap for them.

Hey panamajack, when were u there?

mv8

Embry-Riddle Back In The Air Jan. 16

Just three weeks after tornadoes destroyed most its training aircraft, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's (ERAU's) Daytona Beach campus will resume flight training Jan. 16. ERAU is leasing airplanes from other flight schools, Cessna dealers and several individuals to replace the 40 airplanes that were tossed to destruction by two Christmas Day tornadoes. The twisters also did substantial damage to nine of the campus's buildings. EAA sent an alert to its members looking for Cessna 172s for the university to borrow and hundreds of responses were received. AVweb is spearheading a fundraising drive to help the university mitigate insurance deductibles and other non-insured costs arising from the storm. The tornadoes turned many of the airplanes into barely-recognizable heaps and the university's call for replacement aircraft was swiftly rewarded, particularly by EAA members. "It shows again what EAA and its members are all about," EAA's Director of Marketing, and ERAU alumnus, Rick Larsen said. "We at EAA headquarters simply made the need known to our fellow members and they energized the response. EAA members know schools such as Embry-Riddle represent the future of aviation and immediately stepped forward to assist."


and

AVweb Fund To Help Rebuild Embry-Riddle Fleet

AVweb has set up a "Rebuild the Fleet Fund" to help Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona Beach, Fla. campus get back in the air following a direct hit from two devastating F2 tornadoes on Christmas day. University President John Johnson estimates that the Daytona Beach campus suffered between $50 million and $60 million in damage, $11 million of which is from the 40 airplanes that were destroyed and another 10 that were damaged. We've been assured that any donations to Embry-Riddle will be devoted to the flight line, and to help students continue their training. Contributions will be allocated to meet the school's significant insurance deductible, we're told, but also to help defray the cost of flying in leased replacements and to reduce losses by fixing repairable damage. The bottom line is that AVweb wants to support any mission that helps build tomorrow's pilots, so we consider a donation as an investment in the future.


To kick-start the "Rebuild the Fleet Fund," AVweb's parent company, Belvoir Media Group, is contributing $1,000. AVweb subscribers will soon be able to donate online to the fund, but for now those wishing to help can send checks to:

The AVweb Rebuild The Fleet Fund
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Office of Development
600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
Attn.: Jamie Belongia


Source: AvWeb (http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/780-full.html#194175)

I am making a donation through Eagle's Nest(alumni club) on the erau website.


That's most generous of you. I take it, you are one of the very few who didn't pay them quite enough for tuition.

Deleted.
:oh:

That's most generous of you. I take it, you are one of the very few who didn't pay them quite enough for tuition.

I have to agree with your sentiments flyboyike. I also received a message, as an ERAU Alumni, to make a donation.

I've never been inclined to donate money neither to my high school nor to my university alma maters, always having felt that I have "paid my dues" in high tuition during my university years.

I believe thought that there is room for donation, and in the case of corporations who employ ERAU graduates it is very appropriate. Lets face it, Corporate America benefits by receiving (at the going market rate) well educated individuals who have been motivated enough to fund their own education. The corporations are really the biggest benefactors of universities like ERAU, and especially the airlines, none of which (in the USA) have their own ab-initio pilot training scheme.

For this reason, I would applaud most US aerospace companies lining up with their checkbooks. That and insurance should see ERAU coming out strong with only some inconvenience.