Originally Posted by
Bell_ringer
Was there insufficient warning to allow them to reposition the aircraft?
While there is usually a tornado watch area issued for severe weather outbreaks, tornado warnings are only issued if there is radar indicated rotation or visual sightings of a funnel on the ground. So once a warning is issued you basically have a window of 0-15 minutes to seek cover, etc. vs have time to fly an aircraft out. And even with a warning issued theres no guarantee a tornado will even touchdown. For example, on one side you can spend your entire life going through tornado watches and warnings and never see or hear an actual tornado, then on the other side you could find yourself in the middle of a super outbreak which could generate 100+ of tornados in one day over several states like in 1974 and 2011. Its this unpredictability that makes it so hard to plan ahead.
How much would it have cost to build a tornado proof hangar? less than a new helicopter? Insulated Concrete Forms seem to survive.
Short of an underground bunker hangar, tough to build a tornado proof structure that large. While the intensity of the tornado (F1-F5) plays into what gets damaged and at what level, the unique dynamics of how a tornado moves, etc. also determines what gets hit. Have seen all the houses on one side of the street leveled to the foundation, and all the houses on the other side of the street with no damage. But the strangest I've seen was back when I bid on/bought weather damaged airplanes to repair or part out. A tornado had swept most of the aircraft on a small airport flightline into a pile at the corner of a larger hangar and the perimeter security fence. However, the aircraft tied down along the edge of the ramp area, the tornado cherry-picked several aircraft out of that line while leaving the others intact include a Piper Super Cub that wasn't even moved within its tie-downs. Regardless, give me a hurricane over a tornado or earthquake any day to plan for.