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High Winds (Tornado) at Sun-N-Fun Airshow — Parallax Forums

High Winds (Tornado) at Sun-N-Fun Airshow

PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
edited 2011-04-05 18:44 in General Discussion
The only reason I bring this up, is that our friend Bill (wjsteele) may have been exhibiting his Propeller product there, as he did at Oshkosh. Hope all is well Bill!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNt1BKqF3a0&NR=1

http://www.theledger.com/article/20110331/NEWS/110339894/1410?Title=High-Winds-Damage-69-Airplanes-Several-Buildings-at-Sun-n-Fun

Comments

  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2011-04-01 15:54
    The first couple mins I wasn't really impressed... A typical Florida thunderstorm, but then.. OMG..

    Our Propeller's aren't afraid of a little wind and water.. :) Maybe Bill will report in.

    OBC
  • $WMc%$WMc% Posts: 1,884
    edited 2011-04-01 18:40
    I wished I would have known You'll were at the air show in Lakeland. Fla. I live just 35 miles S.S.E. of the air show.
    '
    That was a pretty good storm, I lost a 60' pine tree that fell about 5' short of hitting my truck.
    '
    The local news said they clocked about 100 tornado's from the two day storm.
    '
    I recorded 12" of rain in the two days of the storm.My rain gauge only reads to 12". It was at 0 before the storm.
    '
    The news showed some planes damaged at the air show, But there was no injuries.
    '
    I hope Bill is OK.
  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2011-04-02 20:12
    I'm ok. The Tornado (which was confirmed at F1) destroyed a bunch. I was caught in a tent when it hit. We were literally right in the middle of it... the tornado actually touch down right in front of us less than 100 feet away and destroyed several planes. I watched an amphibous plane literally float about 20 feet in the air for several seconds before the tornado actually touched it and just ripped it to shreds.

    I have to say, it was the most intense thing I've ever encountered. Luckily, there were no major injuries... the worst being a fractured hip. There were several million dollars of aircraft destoryed along with a bunch of vendors tents/exhibits, etc.

    I have a bunch of pictures that I posted to Facebook in a public folder. You can see them here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=344131&id=737899256&l=8b3615b477

    The YouTube video you posted is from right next to where I was... literally, they were in the tent right next to us. We were actually too busy with our stuff to take videos... our tent sustained a bit of damage (the back wall blew out) and most of our stuff departed (in fact, most was found in the area of that yellow plane wrapped around the little Eclipse 500 Jet you see in that video.)

    The next day, you could barely tell anything had happened, and Today, there were no visible signs of any damage. Also, it really earned it's name Sun-n-Fun Yesterday and Today... it was absolutely georgous outside (80 and Sunny!)

    Bill
  • doggiedocdoggiedoc Posts: 2,246
    edited 2011-04-02 20:51
    @Bill - that's scary man. Glad you're ok.


    Paul
  • $WMc%$WMc% Posts: 1,884
    edited 2011-04-03 16:33
    Glad to here your ok Bill
    '
    Sorry to here about your stuff.
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2011-04-05 18:44
    Bill,

    Glad you are OK. Hope you products didn't sustain too much damage or get lost.

    I had another pilot friend that was working an FAA booth that went through what you described.

    I'm glad there were only a few injured and no fatalities, but the loss of dollars and the hundred of hours in some of the personal planes is mind boggling.
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