Heavy wx in my hood

Matthew

Matthew

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
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kojc, kixd, k34
Display Name
Matthew
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K34
Had a really windy day all day long, then tonight the squall line blasted through. KOJC took a hit. At least on row of hangars is down.

Pictures to follow.
 
Yikes! I saw the system moving through the Midwest on radar stretching from OK to WI. Tomorrow is forecasted for some showers all day here in TN. Stay safe!
 
The pictures are still coming in right now. The TV shows a lot of airplanes severely damaged. I'm trying to find those pix.

I was just outside walking around with a flashlight. My neighbor's fence will need some work. It also looks like we have some snow flurries. Doesn't seem cold enough, but it does look like snow flakes - might be dust or something, dunno, it's strange.
 
This is about the time the winds blasted through:

KOJC 070153Z 29024G58KT 5SM -TSRA FEW026 SCT037 BKN047 13/11 RMK AO2 PK WND 22058/0148 WSHFT 0138 LTG DSNT ALQDS RAB50 TSB33 SLPNO P0001 T01330106 $
 
Just heard that a couple of clubs lost some of their airplanes.

Tomorrow will be interesting. There will probably be trees down all over, too.
 
I expected to see a lot of trees down this morning, I only saw one. Trees here haven't gotten leaves yet, so I think they were able to shed a lot of that wind without as much damage.

News this morning is that there might have been several tornadoes. There's pretty good evidence that one hit east of KC, but there might have been many smaller ones touch down closer in. Damage assessments are going on now to determine.
 
Ugh - that's heartbreaking to see.
 
I might drive past it today. I think the majority of the damage was on the east side and it might not be visible from the road I'd be on.
 
I read the title and thought your view limiting device had fogged up during IFR training.

But wow. Nasty.
 
Any word on planes at KIXD? Lots of FBO and club planes at the tie downs out there. We had a 70mph gust here in Lawrence. Had three 'naders close by. One in Topeka, one just north of Tonganoxie, and one around Eudora/DeSoto (I think that's the one that hit KOJC and Lee's Summit then later, Oak Grove). Local weather guys wiffed big time on that JoCo tornado, they were so focused on some rotation north of town they missed the fact that a nader was plowing through Johnson County.
 
No word on IXD.

My power went out right when it all blew through (I am between IXD and OJC) so I missed any warnings on the news. The sirens did not get turned on.
 
Matthew said:
No word on IXD.

My power went out right when it all blew through (I am between IXD and OJC) so I missed any warnings on the news. The sirens did not get turned on.
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Just called NCAS, they seem to be in good shape.
 
Nobody seriously hurt I hope!
 
Wow.
With that much localized damage, it sure looks like a twister got it.

Sucks and hope all were well insured...
 
ChemGuy said:
Wow.
With that much localized damage, it sure looks like a twister got it.

Sucks and hope all were well insured...
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I'm thinking microbursts but I'm definitely an amateur observer. I would expect more of a path with a tornado.
 
I was tempted to go look at my plane this morning from what we experienced last night but I haven't heard of any issues from around town. We got your system around midnight. I think the airport reported peak gusts at 44 knots. Heard of a few tornadoes north of us but nothing hitting us directly.
 
I just drove past it. The pictures on the news make it look a lot better than it really is.

OJC has a single N/S rwy with a taxiway on each side. Winds hit from west to east.

The environment, from west to east: open farm fields, a single row of hedge trees, and a road (the n/s road that I was on). Then the terrain drops about 6-8' and that's where the west hangars are. They are reasonably sheltered by the terrain and that treeline, but at least one hangar had a roof panel peeled up. Pretty sure a buddy of mine keep his plane in that hangar. The west ramp had damaged airplanes on it in the tie-down area. Then the west taxiway, rwy, and east taxiway. Finally, the east hangars and they have zero wind break or any other protection. They were exploded. Everything...doors, roofs, walls, airplanes, everything is blown all into big piles. Sheriff dept has the entrances to the airport barricaded to keep gawkers out, and the news trucks are all over the area.
 
Dang, you guys got it hard.
We had the same cold front this morning. No rain but higher winds (15G25) and the temperature definitely dropped a lot, it is cold here now: 70F. Brrrrr.

Sorry to hear about all the damaged airplanes. That is sad.
 
Clark1961 said:
I'm thinking microbursts but I'm definitely an amateur observer. I would expect more of a path with a tornado.
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That's entirely possible. I thought more likely a small tornado touchdown on that row of hangers based on the damage to that row of hangers. Pure "wind" wouldnt likely do that, but a vortex could. But looking more closely, some of those planes in the next row may have done the damage from wind blowing them into that hanger. A cherokee crashing thru that sheet metal would do it.
 
Note to my observations above:

The hedge trees on the west side of the airport showed some damage. Some of it looked fresh. Those trees are many decades old, are trash trees, and have lots of old downed limbs. But some of the damage was fresh. The west hangars showed some wind damage. The east hangars might be a half mile to 3/4 mile farther east on the opposite side of the airport and they got the worst of it. So whatever wind there was, it was strong enough to cause some damage on the west side, then pick up energy crossing midfield to really blast the east hangars.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article136928148.html

>>>
The weather service determined the damage was consistent with straight-line winds of 80 to 85 mph.
<<<
 
labbadabba said:
The one in the foreground looks like a C185. Don't tell James....
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lol indeed, well a A185F to be exact,
People have brought 185s back from worse

Crappy situation all around though :(
 
ChemGuy said:
That's entirely possible. I thought more likely a small tornado touchdown on that row of hangers based on the damage to that row of hangers. Pure "wind" wouldnt likely do that, but a vortex could. But looking more closely, some of those planes in the next row may have done the damage from wind blowing them into that hanger. A cherokee crashing thru that sheet metal would do it.
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Hard to say from the picture. The roof damage on adjacent buildings and the single destroyed hanger struck me as an event with damage radiating out from an epicenter but obviously I'm just guessing and things could appear very different in another photo. Also the paved areas could be hiding a path that a tornado usually leaves.

At any rate I'm thinking a review of the hanger design criteria might be in order.
 
The front pushed through here today. Fortunately it lost a lot of energy and it's all been light to moderate precip.

Sorry to see the destruction out your way Matthew! :(
 
ChemGuy said:
That's entirely possible. I thought more likely a small tornado touchdown on that row of hangers based on the damage to that row of hangers. Pure "wind" wouldnt likely do that, but a vortex could. But looking more closely, some of those planes in the next row may have done the damage from wind blowing them into that hanger. A cherokee crashing thru that sheet metal would do it.
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So far, no reports that this was a tornado.

Normally, we would have spotters make the call, but this happened after dark. Visual and radar observations, plus damage patterns all get looked at for a final determination. As of now, there were 2 tornadoes. One was north of KC and another was east of town and the KOJC damage is being blamed on straight line winds. Maybe in tonight's news there will be something more released.
 
Matthew said:
So far, no reports that this was a tornado.

Normally, we would have spotters make the call, but this happened after dark. Visual and radar observations, plus damage patterns all get looked at for a final determination. As of now, there were 2 tornadoes. One was north of KC and another was east of town and the KOJC damage is being blamed on straight line winds. Maybe in tonight's news there will be something more released.
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Wonder what the guys in the tower saw, as if it was that bad at ground level, it wouldn't have been any more fun up there.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Wonder what the guys in the tower saw, as if it was that bad at ground level, it wouldn't have been any more fun up there.
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I don't know if they saw much at all. Tower is on the west side, damage was on the east side. Tower closes overnight, but would have still been in operation at the time the wind hit. The airport is kept dim at night and the cab windows are pretty dark. Tower might not have seen much of the east side. Dirt, dust, hail, and rain probably obscured his view, too When that wind hit my place I really felt the house shake, I don't know how much the tower was rocking, but that controller might have been ducking under the counter.
 
There's a dispute over whether it was a straight-line wind or a tornado. The airport managers are not allowing owners access to their planes or hangars while they determine what caused the damage. Insurance differentiates between tornado damage and wind damage. The most heavily damaged aircraft are off limits leaving the aircraft uncovered and contents of cockpits, engines, and whatever was left inside the hangars (tools, spare engines, etc.) exposed to the elements.

I have a friend who lost a 172RG and they got 1 hour to look (but don't touch anything) in their own hangar much less their own plane. It's a messed up situation over there.
 
I guess I can understand, sort of, the insurance deals. The hangars are probably supposed to meet some sort of wind load rating. But even a small tornado can exceed that. That probably would make a big difference in who's insurance company has to pay.
 
Matthew said:
I guess I can understand, sort of, the insurance deals. The hangars are probably supposed to meet some sort of wind load rating. But even a small tornado can exceed that. That probably would make a big difference in who's insurance company has to pay.
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Just glad it hasn't rained since the storm, my friend is pretty PO'd at the airport management.
 
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