US tornado damage
 

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Kentucky

AEL not having a lot of luck with their 135s. Tornado write off in the hangar ? Now that's the definition of unlucky in Kentucky.

If a tornado hits, a hangar only delays the destruction by a few seconds.

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Why didn't they relocate in the first place?
A lot cheaper to spring up for some flight hours than to replace whole damn helicopter!

This was a Tornado not a Hurricane.

Tornados are not predictable in the same way hurricanes are.

The exact location, especially of touchdown, isn't accurately predictable but the weather conditions that produce them certainly are.

How much would it have cost to build a tornado proof hangar? less than a new helicopter? Insulated Concrete Forms seem to survive.

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.


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.

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Tornado path near London KY

PHI EMS also had a EC135 damaged as well.

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From Ian Hunter moderator of the FB Group “Air Crash Investigations / Mayday”
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Photo from Ian Hunter’s post at FB Air Crash Investigations /Mayday
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Google Earth

Comprehensive list of aircraft destroyed or damaged at London-Corbin Airport, Kentucky, USA on the evening of Friday 16/MAY after it was hit by a passing tornado which caused widespread damage to the area.
************Destroyed/Written off************
Eurocopter EC135 P2. R/n. N307PH
Beechcraft T-34A Mentor. R/n. N326M
Cessna 206H Stationair. R/n. N230DE
Piper PA-32 Cherokee 6. R/n. N3486W
Beechcraft T-34B Mentor. R/n. N534BR
Beechcraft T-34B Mentor. R/n. N400LL
Beechcraft A-45 Mentor. R/n. N256GR
Beechcraft T-34B Mentor. R/n. N134RD
************ Substantial Damage************
Beechcraft 58 Baron. R/n. N221CH
Cessna 182E Skylane. R/n. N2836Y
Cirrus SF50 Vision. R/n. N184AS
Cessna 182S Skylane. R/n. N418WR
**************Minimal Damage**************
Beechcraft D45 Mentor. R/n. N2VYo

That’s awful.

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Even strong steel girders are not immune from damage by a Tornado of F4/F5 strength.

Whilst even concrete (ICF) structures can be trashed by a F5 tornado, the US averages only one of those per year.

The same structure is much more likely to survive F4 and below (average 1200 per year) so given the cost involved in all those damaged aircraft in one location it must be cost effective to build them.

It is like failing to protect the Baltimore bridge from ship strikes which would have cost in the low $millions but now they face a nearly $2Bn bill just to replace the bridge, let alone the loss of revenue for the intervening period. At least they can sue the ship's owners but unless your lawyer is very good, getting recompense out of Mother Nature for tornado damage will be tricky.

Some big insurance claims coming in Kentucky.....

Letting alone the forces of the winds very local to the passing tornado, and the probable debris damage, the tornado passing directly over has such low atmospheric pressure that a "sealed" building tries to explode outward, to equalize the pressure, as counter intuitive as it would seem, leaving doors and windows open may be a better idea. From tornadoes we have had in our area, which were not F5), I have formed the opinion that no above ground building could survive, and an underground one would have to be well underground. For aircraft to survive a tornado, they simply must not be in it.

This might be of interest to those considering Tornadoes and aircraft on the ground during those and other hazardous weather events.


https://www.global-aero.com/weather-...tion-insurers/

Except its usually not the wind load that destroys building but the debris field in that wind. Plenty of reports out there of solid concrete structures extensively damaged by wind driven debris and not just tornados or hurricanes. For example, for a structure to receive any type of weather rating it must pass an impact test which is usually a 2x4 shot at the structure at X mph depending on the rating and at the right speed that 2x4 can even penetrate concrete. Regardless, in my experience, if these events were an issue the insurance underwriters would be the first to drive such mitigative requirements like they do for structures in hurricane or flooding prone areas.

Video: Drone video shows tornados’ damage in Kentucky morning after deadly storms | CNN

Been focused on the airport but the town of London took a hit, I flew out of London with PHI in 04/06-time frame (workover). Sorry if an ad pop up, not sure how to edit that out.