Derecho damage at Vinton, IA

jnmeade

jnmeade

Cleared for Takeoff
Joined
Sep 25, 2005
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1,280
Location
Eastern Iowa
Display Name
Jim Meade
Home Airfield
Iowa City, IA
Straight lines winds of up to 130 mph blasted across a narrow strip of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and more. The airport at Vinton, IA, northwest of Cedar Rapids and southeast of Waterloo, suffered considerable hangar damage. At least four airplanes were damaged. No one was hurt that I heard of.
 
An LP-49 !! Do not see many of those any more. Hope it was safe in a trailer.

We had a microburst down burst hit the area last Sunday, 64 knot winds were recorded and some hanger doors damaged. I have not heard of any aircraft tied down outside getting damaged, but I have not had a chance to visit the airport this week.
 
Three planes probably totalled from an insurance standpoint; an RV, a Musketeer, and my Chief. An Air Tractor was pulled off its tiedowns and blown a couple hundred feet but appears to be ferryable. One hangar destroyed, one badly damaged, and 5 hangar doors blown out with one more sprung. We just got power back at the house after 60 hours on the portable generator.
 
RickH said:
Three planes probably totalled from an insurance standpoint; an RV, a Musketeer, and my Chief. An Air Tractor was pulled off its tiedowns and blown a couple hundred feet but appears to be ferryable. One hangar destroyed, one badly damaged, and 5 hangar doors blown out with one more sprung. We just got power back at the house after 60 hours on the portable generator.
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Dang! That hurts!:sad: Sorry to hear that. At least I didn't see any injuries in the list!
 
Got an A/P in today to do an estimate for the insurance. Unfortunately, the closer we look, the more damage we find. Both spars on the right wing are broken, along with multiple ribs...not sure on the left wing. There's also some fuselage damage that will be hard to know the extent of until the fabric is all removed...probably a couple of broken bulkheads and stringers and some twisting of tubing in the vicinity of the firewall, in addition to all the other obvious things. I realize that a piece of wood with a dataplate can be turned back into an airplane, but I don't think I'm prepared to invest that much money and time. I'm 65 years old and want to fly airplanes in the time I have left, not build them... Maybe I'll feel differently tomorrow, but tonight I'm kinda depressed.
 
Sorry to hear that Rick. Hope you get to give another airplane a good home.
 
Our condolences, Rick. Report back with any news....or for a shoulder if'n it's needed.
 
Ouch, Rick, that's sad news. I hope the insurance check is enough to get you into new flyable wings soon.
 
bummer deal Rick. I can totally understand your feeling on totalling it out. let us know what ends up happening.
 
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