Tornado wrecks ERAU fleet at Daytona
Mid afternoon today (Dec 25) a force 2 tornado touched down at Daytona Beach Regional Airport and substantially damaged 50 of 65 ERAU airplanes tied down there. No injuries reported at the airfield, but early news pix show some utterly destroyed 172s - and I do mean demolished. Winds estimated at 120 mph. Looks like a war zone, parts of airplanes scattered everywhere. Sad sight. Storm also touched down at Sutton Place apartments just east of ERAU (on Nova Road), one serious injury, some minor injuries. Sutton Place was mostly empty - it is off-campus housing for ERAU and BCC, and they are on winter break. The wood-frame buildings simply exploded and disintegrated. Daytona Beach Police Department lost quite a few police cars (they are just east of Sutton Place). Few injuries, lots of property damage (I'd guess $10MM+ at ERAU alone), the moral of the story is that no matter what you fly, the weather always wins. Best Regards, Echo Mike