Kandahar Aircraft Damaged!
 

Costly weather!

Afghanistan hailstone storm kills three and grounds British aircraft - Telegraph

Isn't there a Met Office at Kandahar which can provide timely warning of such weather?

Didn't the precipitation show on radar?

I think the severity of the hailstorm rather took everyone by surprise, hail of this magnitude being rare and rather unexpected - and no one expects the unexpected!

After all, "..no one expects the Spanish Inquisition...."!!

We had a hailstorm like that at KAF around Jan 2005, still in tents back then and a month of terrible weather flooded the whole place. Nice to wake up and step straight into a deep puddle then watch an anti-pers mine float by. :)

Yes, there is Met here, but there simply is not enough hangar space to get the large aircraft under cover, nor enough time for a 'survival scramble'... It was funny, until the hailstones got bigger, and the dents in the vehicles turned into smashed windscreens, then we realised it was going to be a major pain... And why the news was hushed up by decree from on high...

Rightly so IMO, we should refrain from speculating on the potential assets affected.

Any old timers with tales of 'when I was at Goose/Halifax/Houston..(insert blast from the past here)' :ok:

Scoff as some will about the notion of 'hushing up' the weather, I would not be surprised if the blogs and Youtube footage emanating from KAF were the only reason that NATO felt it had to make a statement. The absolute stupidity of people posting such information from within deployed bases never fails to astound me - how can they not see that opening up such a story hands a real headache to ISAF and some ready-made propaganda to the Taleban ("Allah's will, etc etc"). I hope the bloggers and Youtubers have the book thrown at them. Friends-of-friends have been posting pictures of big hailstones on Fleecebook as well - honestly, why? Surely save them to show off when you get home and/or when any damage is no longer of any consequence?

[Yes, undoubtedly the Taleban could find out whether aircraft were damaged from contacts among the local workforce. However there is no need for credible sources to confirm it for them via the internet].

1967....Fort Wolters, Texas....Army's Primary Flight Training School.

A small wind came up...blew 179 TH-55A's (Hughes 300) into the perimeter fence destroying 45 and seriously damaging 134.

1989....Fort Hood, Texas...another small wind blew up....did 15 Million Dollars damage to Hangars, 585 Million Dollars damage to Helicopters. Over 100 AH-64's were damaged or destroyed, along with Blackhawks, Huey Cobra's, Hueys, and Kiowa's. One Huey left its skids nicely secured to the ramp....and other aircraft saw 5,000 Pound Rated Tie Down Straps parted. Units were rendered Combat Ineffective by the storm.

Easy St, I totally agree. Whatever happened to following orders these days? One is told it is forbidden to post such matters on social networking sites. It's not a difficult concept to grasp, is it???

With a cu-Nim like that overhead I wouldn't have liked to be flying at that time!:eek:

I hope the Telegraph's ugly and ludicrous invention "hailstone storm" isn't going to catch on. Who writes this stuff? Don't journos even speak english these days?

:ugh: