Flying away before a hurricane

[CChris]

Dear Florida pilots,

I am based in South Florida and have owned my Mooney for a few months now. With the storm season upon us, I am putting together a plan to run away from the weather should a hurricane approaches us. My insurance policy will even reimburse me up to a certain amount to cover the relocation costs. 
 

Since I am currently not IFR certified and don’t understand well the atmosphere dynamics prior to a storm passing, I would like to ask for recommendations on the best course of action.

These are my mains questions:

i. Will the M20C survive a tropical depression or storm tied down? (Winds up to 60kts)

ii. Should I look for a hangar nearby or rather fly to an area not in the storm predicted path?

iii. How soon before a storm is expected to hit land should I take-off?

iv. Any recommendation on safe areas I could fly to?

Thank you for your attention. Any insights are appreciated. 
 

Best,

Christianini

[ArtVandelay]

We get severe thunderstorms on occasion that have 50-60mph winds, so you should be fine except if there’s a tornado. Always assume this when leaving your plane tied down.
Often they force you to either leave or allow them to put you in a hangar, they don’t want your plane becoming a hazard to fuel pumps, buildings, etc.
Often there’s good weather before a hurricane, don’t wait until the last minute, you should be gone before winds start picking up.
You want to fly away from the path, wherever that is. I’ve flown as far as Pennsylvania. I fly to where I can go see friends and family and get free lodging. :-)

[CChris]

14 minutes ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Agreed. 60 knot winds are not at all uncommon here during thunderstorms or the passage of squall lines.  If properly tied down they aren’t usually a problem.  Learn how to tie a taut-line hitch.  That doesn’t mean, though, that the asshole next to you’s airplane that isn’t tied down properly won’t get blown into you.  Hangars are highly preferred  here in Florida for many reasons.  

If you evacuate your plane just fly it somewhere well outside of the hurricane’s projected path. I did it for Katrina the day before it veered west and hit Mississippi and Louisiana.  You don’t really know where they are going until the last 48 hours, or how strong they are going to be.  

When the big one comes, though, you won’t even care about your airplane.  That might sound like hyperbole, but as a Cat 5 direct hit victim/survivor just five years ago I can tell you that it is not.  

I hear you. And thanks for sharing. That is another reason to leave some time before it hits. Shutters down in the house and fly away with my wife and dogs a few days in advance.

[A64Pilot]

IF I had to leave one tied down I’d get me some new strong as in at least 2,000 lb or so ratchet straps and use them as opposed to ropes, I’d get the one meant to tie cars down on a trailer and if they wouldn’t fit I’d buy clevises to attach them to the airplane with, new ones not ones that have been in the sun, in fact go buy some now because if you wait until the Hurricane is coming it’s likely there may not be any, same for a generator, chainsaw etc.

I’d also pull them snug, I see no logic at all in leaving ropes loose, and I think the cause of failure is often the airplane jerking and snatching against ropes with some slack, think if it as the airplane getting a running start to be suddenly and violently stopped, the snatch loads on the tie down point and the rope are huge.

I’d also get good external gust locks for the flight controls, and fit spoilers on the wings, 2x4’s foam cushioned and strapped down on top of the wing about 25% back from the leading edge will spoil almost all lift a wing can produce.

Take a look at the spoiler wing covers to get an idea.

https://alaskawingcovers.com/aircraft-wing-and-tail-covers/#:~:text=THE SPOILER WING COVERS&text=The vent allows any wind,over at the tie-down.

I think an airplane properly tied down and prepped can ride out almost anything, until the ramp tramp beside of you hits your airplane anyway. Other than maybe paying the FBO to park the fuel trucks around you I have no idea how to protect from that.

Take a look at wing covers made for bush planes way up North like Alaska for an idea, in fact do some reading how they prepare for Winter storms, they have it figured out, seems most down South just say that’s what insurence is for.

I think 90% or better of Fl Hurricane damaged aircraft pretty much nothing was done to prep the airplane, they are left tied with loose rotted ropes, and owners act surprised when it ends up against the fence or on its back, and no one holds them responsible for not properly tying down their aircraft. Odd thing is the Marina’s I’ve rode out Hurricanes in that’s not allowed, if you don’t secure boat 19 ways from Sunday the Marina does and sends you the bill for doing so, assuming your not there.

As late as 24 to 48 hours before landfall you usually have very pretty VFR weather to leave in, based of course on size and speed of the Storm, a fast moving one gets here fast. It seems the Storm sucks all the energy from the air, after it’s gone usually there is beautiful Wx and often before the rain bands hit, once they get here your not going anywhere IFR rated or not

Lastly as someone who has lived most of his life down South, you really, really, really don’t want to be part of the nightmare that is a Hurricane Evac on Fl highways, if you must land Evac leave EARLY.

You really want to be flying and looking down at the 200 mile long parking lot that I-95 and I-75 are. If you have to Evac by car carry at least 10 gls of fuel plus drinking water and food, don’t have to buy anything, because you may not be able to.

Fly and head North, by North Ga, Al, Tennessee etc your almost certainly far enough North, actually when you hit the Fl line head West some, Hurricanes seem to follow the East Coast pretty much, so don’t go up the Coast.

I think so many stay and ride it out because they did the highway Evac once and decided to never do that again, the argument is if you go early it’s easy, and they are right, but most seem to wait until the highways are packed and then of course it goes down hill FAST.

Everything is an opinion, but mine is it’s better to watch the hurricane on TV knowing your airplane is safe, it’s far more likely that your car can ride it out better in the garage than your airplane on the ramp, plus thousands of new cars are built every day.

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by A64Pilot

[A64Pilot]

Not trying to beat this to death, but prepare now, go buy everything you think you might need to secure your house, boat whatever you have now and store it, because once you need it, it’s likely you won’t be able to buy it. Good to have a generator, fuel storage and clean up tools too. For when you come back.

If you Evacuate, don’t leave anything perishable in the fridge, in fact I’d clean it out, turn it off and leave the door open, because a week or two without electricity and the fridge is like a slaughterhouse or worse.

Edited July 8, 2023 by A64Pilot

[McMooney]

I second, you want NOTHING to do with evac traffic, good chance you'll just get to ride out the hurricane in your car.

weather before and after the storm is usually extremely nice.  atleast in the 4 or 5 hurricanes i've experienced.

my plan this year is to fly from Houston to Southern ok or visit family in Indiana.  when everyone evacs, hotels get really hard to find.

 

 

 

 

[CChris]

Thank you for the comments. All very helpful!

[McMooney]

1 hour ago, McMooney said:

I second, you want NOTHING to do with evac traffic, good chance you'll just get to ride out the hurricane in your car.

weather before and after the storm is usually extremely nice.  atleast in the 4 or 5 hurricanes i've experienced.

my plan this year is to fly from Houston to Southern ok or visit family in Indiana.  when everyone evacs, hotels get really hard to find.

 

 

 

 

Now that i think  of it, it's usually absolutely dead calm before the hurricane hits.   there's plenty of time to get your girl out.  Oh yeah don't forget the wife and kids.

[201Steve]

At least in my town, coastal GA, there’s somewhere to squeeze the planes into someone’s hangar. Or at least within the area. With some Some folks leaving (that are in hangars) can usually utilize space somewhere. I’m always surprised with how many places have space during a hurricane from here to Atlanta. Albeit, FL is a different animal, we aren’t that far. 
 

Last time I parked the cars in the hangar, flew out, had the insurance pay me $500 to do it, and gave it enough time for the dust to settle before returning. Getting home right after the storm can be a shoot show also. People going nutzo. 

[ArtVandelay]

My neighbor took 21 hours to get from S Florida to Tennessee, with no accidents, left 36 hours before landfall. I took 7 hours to get to Pennsylvania, there’s nothing like looking down at bumper to bumper traffic crawling along while flying over at 175 mph.

[A64Pilot]

One’s I’ve evaced from they turn both sides of the highway into the same direction, and it still turns into a parking lot, and sometimes you’re not allowed back for a significant time. I rode one out on the boat in Brunswick Ga. and it missed completely, but they wouldn’t let my Wife come back for almost a week, they blockaded the roads, but in truth if one hits it’s likely that you really don’t want to come back for awhile, Hotter than Hell, often no water, can’t even flush toilets, certainly no power and over stressed people running around, it’s just not pleasant.

Evacuating from Savannah was a nightmare if you took the official route, but if you took back roads it was a nice Sunday afternoon drive.

If your in Fl now, think about how bad the I-95 and I-75 traffic is on a normal day, multiple that by at least ten times the number of cars and I think it explains why so many stay, because they can’t hop into an airplane and in half a day be in a safe place.

If going to visit family or friends isn’t in the cards I think as soon as possible I’d pick a destination and lock in a reservation, but I guess in truth even Oklahoma isn’t really that far for a Mooney.

Many install generators, bunker fuel and water, food etc. and hope for the best.

You have an option many would kill for, the ability to leave in comfort, be crazy in my opinion to not use it.

Me, I’m stupid, and in Central Fl with a hangar, a generator, 300+ gls of fuel etc. I’ll probably stay unless we have a Cat 5 bearing down, then I’ll leave

Oh, schedule your annual outside of hurricane season too. I like to do mine in fall when it’s cooler

[exM20K]

Franklin County, where I am, has emergency re-entry hang tags that they will issue to residents and business people.  You'd be wise to get one of these early if you don't have one.  I presume other Florida counties/cities do the same, but maybe your area is simply too densely populated to do this.  It seems like a good way to keep looters and lookers out during cleanup and recovery.

I would not leave a plane outside if at all possible.  It's not just the strength of your tiedown ropes that matters.  the anchor can pull out of the ground, random debris can be thrown at your plane, the ramp can become inundated with salt water.  A hangar is, of course no guarantee - they can and have collapsed.

I was working the Diamond booth in 2011 when the tornado came through Sun-n-Fun. The planes were well staked down and survived without damage.  My biggest concern was lack of cover for ourselves.  hanging out in a 53' semi-trailer with debris and planes tumbling down the alley between us and Piper was not my favorite place to be. My second biggest concern was debris or another plane blowing into ours.

My hangar at Apalachicola survived Michael as did all the adjacent rows, and that was a pretty hard hit, so I'm pretty confident it would survive.  But in the event of a hurricane forecast to hit our area, that hangar will be keeping a car and a motorcycle dry, not my plane.

-dan

[Schllc]

On 7/8/2023 at 11:45 AM, CChris said:

Dear Florida pilots,

I am based in South Florida and have owned my Mooney for a few months now. With the storm season upon us, I am putting together a plan to run away from the weather should a hurricane approaches us. My insurance policy will even reimburse me up to a certain amount to cover the relocation costs. 
 

Since I am currently not IFR certified and don’t understand well the atmosphere dynamics prior to a storm passing, I would like to ask for recommendations on the best course of action.

These are my mains questions:

i. Will the M20C survive a tropical depression or storm tied down? (Winds up to 60kts)

ii. Should I look for a hangar nearby or rather fly to an area not in the storm predicted path?

iii. How soon before a storm is expected to hit land should I take-off?

iv. Any recommendation on safe areas I could fly to?

Thank you for your attention. Any insights are appreciated. 
 

Best,

Christianini

Unless your hangar was built in the last 7 years, I would not trust it  to protect my plane from any type of storm winds.  

Metal buildings are notoriously weak on shear, and generally do not tolerate winds well.  People also have a pretty big misconception regarding storm force winds lull themselves into a false sense of security.  Most places in the path of any given storm do not see the real hurricane force.  The airport in my home drome nearly had all the hangars flood during Ian, and during Irma sustained major damage with 5/8 - and 3/4" high strength bolts shear and shoot all over my hangar like bullets.

If I was in the direct path of a hurricane in South Florida, I would fly out and not risk it on a tie down or in a hangar..