It depends. Some people aren't in a position to move the aircraft vs other priorities. Or they take the proper precautions and see how things fall. In this case I don't think anyone saw a CAT 4/5 hitting either. By then it was too late. There are/were 2 hangars on the north ramp in LCH that were destroyed in Rita. The new ones were built stronger and had a couple $1M+ helicopters in one and a PC-12 in the other. However they didn't quite hold up to the 137mph winds as well, but probably would have been fine at 110 winds.
Hurricane Laura
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MooneyDriver78
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Maybe people have more important things to do than worry about an airplane?
I'm mostly surprised there aren't services to do it and insurance companies helping to line up/schedule the right pilots. They know what type of plane it is, plus where it's based. Cheaper for the owner and the insurance company.
midwestpa24
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Coming from someone who has been through a few hurricanes, you just don't have time to do everything before a storm. You realistically have 24-48 hours to get your life squared away before a storm. More than 48 hours out, the storm track can shift a lot. If you evaced everytime a storm came by, you'd be doing it several times a year. Less than a week ago Laura was aiming for the Florida coast, and no one envisioned a nearly Category 5 monster.
Who here has needed to hire a ferry pilot? How often were you able to locate, hire, check out, and get it done in under 48 hours?
It's a lousy decision, but when the choice is your life, your family's and your home, versus an object of wood, aluminum or fiberglass, which do you choose? Its just the nature of living in hurricane prone areas. Of course you could live in wildfire prone areas, tornado prone areas, earthquakes, etc. The only advantage to hurricanes is you DO get a small warning.
Who here has needed to hire a ferry pilot? How often were you able to locate, hire, check out, and get it done in under 48 hours?
It's a lousy decision, but when the choice is your life, your family's and your home, versus an object of wood, aluminum or fiberglass, which do you choose? Its just the nature of living in hurricane prone areas. Of course you could live in wildfire prone areas, tornado prone areas, earthquakes, etc. The only advantage to hurricanes is you DO get a small warning.
How so? It would cost way more to set up said service with the mob/demob expenses then what any potential claims would be. Then the secondary problem is how does that service survive financially outside of hurricane season or if no storms threaten? The GOM helicopter industry plays this game every year and it is not cheap even when they can do this in-house with pilots, mechanics, and other support items.
Hang 4
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My insurance will pay 50% of the cost, up to $1,000 (so $500 to me) to move my plane out of the way of a hurricane. Don't have the policy in front of me, but there is a requirement that it be a Warning vs a Watch and I need to move it at least a certain distance away. There are some limits on what can be reimbursed. I'm pretty sure it includes fuel, a ferry pilot fee if I don't do it myself and hotels.
Not hardly. Hire a pilot to fly the aircraft out is what? A day rate x1 or 2 + whatever miscellaneous expenses are necessary vs. a total loss of tens of thousands. Big difference.
Insurance company hires contract pilots on a case by case basis. Wouldn’t be necessary to have them organized year round or outside ‘cane season.
@wayne - I agree... it surprises me as well.
Ryan, that's what I was thinking. Not pilots doing this full time, as it's not a full time gig. Rather a list of pilots with their experience. Someone to fly that Citation, someone to fly the T-6, etc.
Call them up when a hurricane is incoming and fly the planes out, if the owner can't; fully get that their family and home are a higher priority.
If there's enough work, maybe someone shuttling them there for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th flight out.
Wayne
Call them up when a hurricane is incoming and fly the planes out, if the owner can't; fully get that their family and home are a higher priority.
If there's enough work, maybe someone shuttling them there for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th flight out.
Wayne
You're overlooking the logistics and the timeline. On Tuesday morning prior to landfall (36 hours out) Laura wasn't even a hurricane and there were over a 1000 GA aircraft at risk within the NHS cone of uncertainty, which spanned roughly 200 miles wide at the time and was moving with each model run. So perhaps you can explain how you would get a 1000+ pilots mobilized and delivered to each aircraft within 24 hours?
denverpilot
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You run a probability distribution based on the forecasted path. We knew Lake Charles, Beaumont and Port Arthur were going to take the biggest hit, every model held the same sentiment and agreed on this. Outlying cities within a 20/40/60/80/100 mile radius had a lower probability of damage as the curve extends outward. You don’t account for every aircraft in the storms path, just the ones that hold the highest probability of becoming a total loss. It really wouldn’t be hard to organize the logistics given the desire to accomplish.
kyleb
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I'm sure those are some of the reasons, but if you had a few day's notice a ****storm was headed your way, your first priority would probably to be to secure your house, valuables, and critical keepsakes. Maybe your business too. Simultaneously making sure your immediate family and anyone who depends on you is moved to a safe place, which might be a long way inland. Once you make the inland trek, road closures will probably make it impossible to come back.
So, the answer is probably "Higher priorities.".
Ha. How many aircraft do you think are based in the area you describe? And don't forget the pic above are from Sulpher. Do you want to include them as well?
Thats why I asked you how it would be done. Or do you only like to ask questions and not answer any? I've actually done the logistics to move 40 aircraft before a hurricane. You?
But as to track accuracy, the NHC did good on Laura, but failed on Marco 2 days prior and with Harvey, more damage overall was done 4 days after landfall and 200 miles to the east. So while it may look like a great idea on paper there's a reason why insurance companies dont. Or only offer $500 as mentioned above.
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how many of those aircraft do you believe are insured? how many of those aircraft do you believe are ramp queens or out of annual? it’s all about logistics... if done right it could be accomplished.has to be strategic.Ha. How many aircraft do you think are based in the area you describe? And don't forget the pic above are from Sulpher. Do you want to include them as well?
Thats why I asked you how it would be done. Or do you only like to ask questions and not answer any? I've actually done the logistics to move 40 aircraft before a hurricane. You?
But as to track accuracy, the NHC did good on Laura, but failed on Marco 2 days prior and with Harvey, more damage overall was done 4 days after landfall and 200 miles to the east. So while it may look like a great idea on paper there's a reason why insurance companies dont. Or only offer $500 as mentioned above.
midwestpa24
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You obviously didn't read my earlier post.
Who here has needed to hire a ferry pilot? How often were you able to locate, hire, check out, and get it done in under 48 hours?
I'm sure there are tons of qualified ferry pilots sitting around on call during hurricane season ready to go at a moment's notice. It's easy to think it can be done if you've never had to evacuate.
The track of the storm moves a lot. Anything beyond about 48-72 hours is notoriously unreliable. Laura was originally aiming at the Florida Panhandle. It didn't get forecasted to be a monster until about 48 hours before landfall, and even then surpassed the forecast of a Cat 3. Hurricane prediction is far from a perfect science. You can't just start moving airplanes based on a 5 day forecast. You will spend a lot of effort moving planes for no reason, not moving planes that end up in the path, or may inadvertently move planes into the path.
90+% insured, less than 10% ramp queens. Don't forget this same area was devastated twice in the past 15 years.
Okay. So for the 3rd time, tell us how you would do the logistics to move these aircraft out within a 24 hour window? And to keep things simple for you, there are about 200-300 aircraft based just in the Lake Charles, Beaumont, and Port Arthur immediate area. Now whether it's strategic or not is up to you.