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Anyone attending Sun 'n Fun?

FlyingAggie

By FlyingAggie
in General Mooney Talk

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THASE Explorer

THASE

Posted
Posted

Yes, my tent and I made it thru the hours or rain last night. Today looks like more of the same. I'm camping at the far west end on row 8. I'll be here until Saturday or Sunday, or till I can taxi off this soggy field.

FlyingAggie Proficient

FlyingAggie

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I awoke to thunder and heavy rains this morning.  There were numerous reports of several funnel clouds in the area.  Most of the storm tracks went north of LAA, but more storms are coming in from the gulfthis afternoon and looks to be pushing further south and will pass over LAA.  The highways were reported to be at a standstill, so I decided to stay in my hotel room and study for my IR written.

It is supposed to clear out tonight, so I'll try to pack 3 days of planned event into Frid and Sat.

This is my first time to attend SnF and last summer was my first time to attend AirVenture, so my luck with with bad weather and major AirShows continues. Yell

Quote: Bob

Alan, you are posting at 12AM, are you too excited to sleep?  Enjoy the event!

fantom Grand Master

fantom

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I never thought flying from Ft. Lauderdale to Lakeland could be such an "interesting" adventure. I'll be at the show until Friday night. I have a Mooney shirt on, a water logged look, and hopefully a slight sunburn tomorrow ;-)

FlyingAggie Proficient

FlyingAggie

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Jolie mentioned on the MAPAlist that a few Mooney Ambassdors are trying to get together for dinner on Friday.  Anyone know the place and time?


Watching the local news with live reports from SnF, looks like they were hammered by high winds, blinding rain and hail.  Video showed several tents blown away and a few aircraft upset.  One unconfirmed report is that 70 people are trapped in either a hangar or building that collapsed.

N601RX Grand Master

N601RX

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DEVELOPING: At least 70 people are trapped in a collapsed building at a central Florida airport after severe weather hit the region, Fox News confirms.


An air show was taking place at the Lakeland Regional Airport when the violent weather tore through.


Powerful winds, severe thunderstorms and some tornadoes are sweeping across Tampa Bay and central Florida.


St. Petersburg Fire Rescue said Thursday that a tractor-trailer was blown over on its side and fell on two vehicles. All of the people involved declined medical treatment.


At the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport, several small planes were blown over and there are multiple reports of downed trees and power lines.


Winds gusted up to 90 miles per hour in Tampa, and emergency crews were responding to a report of a building collapse with no injuries.


fantom Grand Master

fantom

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Lakeland, Florida -- Lakeland police say while there is major property damage at the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In Aviation Fair, there are no people trapped.


Early unconfirmed reports indicated people had been trapped in a collapsed building or tent.  Officials dispute those reports and say there are some injuries, but all people have been accounted for.


Polk Sheriff Grady Judd says seven people total were injured, including one person with a broken hip.


It has not been confirmed if damage was caused by a tornado. 


Damaged planes litter the airfield at Lakeland


sun-n-fun-tornado-funnel-620.jpg


Sun n Fun tornado damage Lakeland Airport Florida

rbridges Grand Master

rbridges

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wow.  That is a shame.  I guess no one seriously hurt is the silver lining, but the damaged displays and planes will be a major headache for some people.  Very unfortunate since so many people look forward to it all year.

scottfromiowa Grand Master

scottfromiowa

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I am SO HAPPY there was no loss of life.  My heart goes out to the organizers, vendors, Companies and participants who were impacted by this Act of God event.  What rotten luck for timing of show and storm...I understand the show is going on and organizers were up all night making ready for the weekend.  I wish them Blue Sky and Sun.

DaV8or Grand Master

DaV8or

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I feel the worst of all for the folks that spent years and years building an airplane from scratch, only to have it destroyed at the event where you really hope would make it all worth while. The pile of Pietenpoles is heart wrenching for me.Cry

Steve65E-NC Proficient

Steve65E-NC

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I wonder how much difference tie downs made.  For folks who were there.  Could you detect a significant advantage for tied down aircraft?  Did field installed, screwed or driven, tiedowns hold through the storm? 

DaV8or Grand Master

DaV8or

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My observation from the pictures seems to indicate that low wing planes survive the wind much better. Another advantage Mooney! I noticed from somebody's pictures on Facebook, that the one of a kind, tiger stripe Mooney military trainer (N20XT) was there at the show. Looks to have survived intact.

Hank Grand Master

Hank

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Hey, guys.


Last week at Rain-N-Fun was exciting. I watched from inside a hangar as the sky turned black, rain turned to hail, all precipitation and some vendor tents blew sideways. Could not get to my plane tied down at the approach end of Rwy 9 due to trees down on power lines right at the gate.


Much water fell the rest of the day. Many trees, branches and tents were down. What amazed me was how quickly the show got put back together. Being my first ever big fly-in, I have nothing to compare it to. The weather going down was poor, with widespread low IFR from the mountains in western NC all the way to south of Ocala, FL, with a break about 60 miles wide roughly around Atlanta. My fuel stop at Heart of Georgia airport south of Dublin had 900' ceilings when I landed just after lunch on Tuesday, so many VFR pilots could not attend prior to the storm. Friday, Sat & Sunday were beautiful!


My plane and tent survived unscathed, and a half-full plastic water bottle on a folding table nearby did not even blow over. But the Skyhawk parked on my right wingtip pivoted about its right tiedown and landed upside down and backwards on the beautiful V-tailed Bonanza parked to its right, with the leading edge through the windshield. All I had was water deep enough to get on top of the groundcloth of the tent and make things damp, but some rope and a few trees let things get dry. Damage was widespread in the central part of the airport, and many display aircraft are gone. I only saw limited damage in aircraft parking areas. The entire Zenith Air display [6 aircraft] were totalled, and a Husky on floats ended up on its side, with the down wing bent in two places.


I tied down using my fellow travellers screw-in tiedowns purchased at Oshkosh a couple of years ago. The one on the tail leaned forward about 2" due to saturated soil and westerly winds hitting the plane, which faced east. Many "Claw" tiedowns pulled loose from the saturated sand; this is what many of the display aircraft used. I now own a set of the fine EAA screw-ins myself, and my dog-style screws are reverting to pet use only.


At least two planes had prop strikes in my parking/camping area:  a 182 taxied in Friday morning, buried the nosewheel and stopped with a thud and much flying mud--I saw and heard it. Disheartening is not the right word, these people were arriving for the show and following ground crew instructions. I missed a wedding Saturday evening because the ground around my plane was still squishy, with visible water appearing at each step; I heard on Sunday that a fellow Mooniac two rows away tried to taxi out and depart on Saturday and also had a prop strike. My Sunday 1030 departure was uneventful, other than passing a biplane on initial climb <500' then being passed by a Pitts at 1500'.


One never knows what will happen, and staying in bed will not eliminate risk from your life. My heart goes out to those whose planes, cars, tents, trailers, booths, equipment and merchandise were damaged or destroyed, but thankfully there were only a handful of minor injuries. Two funnel clouds came through a crowded airport with hundreds of planes and thousands of people, thousands of tents and campers, and no one was killed. That alone is enough to be thankful for.

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