Send good thoughts and prayers to Jay Honeck

Jay Honeck said:
Great news! In an airport full of hurricane devastation, our hangar survived unscathed. (The last photo.)

It's a freaking miracle. There is no explanation.
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Absolutely amazing. Now, how's Amelia's Landing?
 
Cooter said:
Sounds like the prayers worked! Maybe you should reconsider your position on religion. :yes:
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There are no atheists in a tropical storm?

I've never ridden out a hurricane and don't plan to but have been on a jack-up for some long nights...
 
Clark1961 said:
There are no atheists in a tropical storm?
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That reminds me of one of my favorite O'Brother quotes. "That's not the tune you was singing back on the gallows!"

I can't find the actual clip, but Everett quickly changes his ways and distances himself from his brief moment of weakness once they survive the hanging.
 
Ghery said:
Absolutely amazing. Now, how's Amelia's Landing?
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It looks like yours is the only one with any aviation related content.

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This is "Hangar Talk", and humor is often how people deal with this sort of thing.

Disclaimer: This post is aviation content-free.
 
DrMack said:
It looks like yours is the only one with any aviation related content.

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Mistake Not... said:
This is "Hangar Talk", and humor is often how people deal with this sort of thing.

Disclaimer: This post is aviation content-free.
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Yup. Controlled Airspace is the place the Doc wants to be, if he's looking for aviation content.
 
denverpilot said:
Yup. Controlled Airspace is the place the Doc wants to be, if he's looking for aviation content.
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Sorry, crossed wires. I meant to respond to Jay and the reference to aviation content was a comment about the literal contents of the damaged hangars in the posted pictures

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So Jay and family are safe in New Braunfels. Yeah!

I texted PJ Gustafson in Houston (Katy). As of 10:30 this AM they were safe with no damage!
 
Jay Honeck said:
Great news! In an airport full of hurricane devastation, our hangar survived unscathed. (The last photo.)

It's a freaking miracle. There is no explanation.
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Thor, Baal and every other storm god in the cosmos were looking out for you. I can only hope that Amelia's Landing fared as well. You and yours are in our thoughts.
 
steingar said:
Thor, Baal and every other storm god in the cosmos were looking out for you. I can only hope that Amelia's Landing fared as well. You and yours are in our thoughts.
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Seconded - it was great to hear that the hangar & contents survived unscathed, but the real news will be if the hotel comes out of this with minimal damage. Keeping fingers crossed... and many thoughts and good wishes sent Jay's way.
 
steingar said:
Thor, Baal and every other storm god in the cosmos were looking out for you. I can only hope that Amelia's Landing fared as well. You and yours are in our thoughts.
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Jay has been scouring the internet and posting photos of Amelia's whenever he finds them.

From the road anyway, through the dash cams of storm spotters and police cars, it's looking like the hotel fared pretty well. Some neighboring businesses, not so well.

He said that the rising flooding is slowly turning New Braunfels into an island itself. So he's stuck and waiting like everyone else.

Similar story with my sister. "High" ground and no flooding, has power (for now) and all is as well as it can be... but surrounded by water and lots of friends suffering worse than her. Her friend's parents were rescued by boat when water finally reached the second floor of their house.

She says her fiancé is busting out his Cajun roots and making a big batch of red beans and rice in case they lose power, which I know will make you smile, Professor. :) That should keep a while even if the fridge goes, and not be too nasty to eat, lukewarm if required.

I joked with Jay earlier that they might announce folks can go back into Port A and there will be no way to get from New Braunfels to Port A that isn't under water. He might have to fly to get there! (Going around the TFRs and hiking from the airport to home wouldn't be worth it, though.)

Not funny, but an odd side effect. But that's probably the reality of it for a while there. The water between him and home has no place to go.
 
I gotta think the recovery/cleanup crews are going to need places to stay. Hopefully Jay and Mary's place, and others, can get back up and running quickly as soon as water, power, and gas services are restored.

And the looting of personal effects from destroyed houses and businesses... I hope that stays at a minimum.
 
Jay's FB photos of the hotel interior show they got hit by a large storm surge. Many FEET of water in all the rooms, some damaged severely, others many weeks of work ahead.

Tools (power and regulate), supplies, etc... all dunked in salt water. In some rooms the dirty waterline is almost to the top of the headboards of the beds.

I suspect he's way too busy right now to update PoA so ... there's the update. He and Mary have got a real mess on their hands.
 
denverpilot said:
Jay's FB photos of the hotel interior show they got hit by a large storm surge. Many FEET of water in all the rooms, some damaged severely, others many weeks of work ahead.

Tools (power and regulate), supplies, etc... all dunked in salt water. In some rooms the dirty waterline is almost to the top of the headboards of the beds.

I suspect he's way too busy right now to update PoA so ... there's the update. He and Mary have got a real mess on their hands.
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Sorry to hear that. My tiny 1" of clean water caused so much ruin and devastation I can imagine feet of dirty storm water must virtually total all your belongings. They have a lot of work ahead of them.:(
 
I'm glad his facility is still there, even if there will be major restoration to be done. The vast majority of the photos I had seen from the vicinity had me worried that the building may have gone missing entirely.

I hope insurance can be settled quickly and enough folks wind up down in the area to get folks whole as quickly as possible.
 
Yeah, I saw pictures today on FB. It's a mess, with months of cleaning and restoration time in front of him. Wish I was in a position to be down there to help out.
 
denverpilot said:
Jay's FB photos of the hotel interior show they got hit by a large storm surge. Many FEET of water in all the rooms, some damaged severely, others many weeks of work ahead.

Tools (power and regulate), supplies, etc... all dunked in salt water. In some rooms the dirty waterline is almost to the top of the headboards of the beds.

I suspect he's way too busy right now to update PoA so ... there's the update. He and Mary have got a real mess on their hands.
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Worst news I've heard in awhile. Wish I could assist.
 
bflynn said:
Yeah, I saw pictures today on FB. It's a mess, with months of cleaning and restoration time in front of him. Wish I was in a position to be down there to help out.
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I saw the pix, too. He was just getting started with all the room-by-room remodels when we visited and we never did see them once they were finished. I can't even image the gut-punch feeling that must have been to see what was behind each door.
 
denverpilot said:
Jay's FB photos of the hotel interior show they got hit by a large storm surge. Many FEET of water in all the rooms, some damaged severely, others many weeks of work ahead.

Tools (power and regulate), supplies, etc... all dunked in salt water. In some rooms the dirty waterline is almost to the top of the headboards of the beds.

I suspect he's way too busy right now to update PoA so ... there's the update. He and Mary have got a real mess on their hands.
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Saw the same photos... sorta wondering if he will do a major number crunch between cost of restoring existing structure versus tear down and redo with new. Especially when he said in one of his posts that one of the buildings is significantly twisted and the doors no longer shut properly.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Saw the same photos... sorta wondering if he will do a major number crunch between cost of restoring existing structure versus tear down and redo with new. Especially when he said in one of his posts that one of the buildings is significantly twisted and the doors no longer shut properly.
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I missed that comment from him, but that's just ugly. I bet the building moved on its piers, assuming that it's using piers underneath just seeing how he has access panels to get under the building.

Ugh.

We got news this morning that my cousin in the Beaumont area was forced via mandatory "try to
get in here" messages from Exxon to get into the refinery that went out to all critical staff. (He's dual trained as a refinery firefighter and various other jobs.) He and his wife were annoyed but he went. Made it in. Now he's stuck there until water recedes.

Meanwhile, four hours later his wife had to evacuate as their house flooded. Water came up the street and then got to two inches in the garage, and was about eight inches up when the public safety folks came through and said to get out. They have flooded before (Rita) but I think this one is going to be worse for them. Couple blocks down, she took a photo of a friend's house and the firefighter who's not quite in frame is up to his waist in his turnouts, probably making sure they weren't there and nobody was in any of those houses. They're safe and dry with friends of theirs tonight. No idea when they'll be able to get back into their neighborhood.

Sister is high and dry and never even lost power. So far anyway. She's already volunteering at the shelter down the road. Main needs at her particular shelter were clothes for people who left with nothing, and the usual creature comforts like pillows and blankets. They had medical staff and other supplies. Specifically mentioned was a need for big and tall clothes (which made me chuckle) for both men and women. They emptied their closets of pretty much all their linens of any sort other than a few towels and one bed set, and all sorts of clothes in whatever quantity needed in their skinny little sizes (ha!) are trying to help comfort folks who literally have nothing to go home to, as best they can.

She's the smart one in the family and is an architect with about fifteen year's experience specifically in historical building restoration, so ... I have a feeling we won't be seeing her or her fiancé this Christmas. She might be a tad busy still by then, I suspect.

And now the storm tracks on toward Mississippi and Louisiana... which isn't going to be real good, either.
 
So sorry to see this.


I hope he has good business continuity coverage. With boats floating past the motel he probably had water in every room. So even if the building didn't get blown over, he'll be out of commission for a long time.
 
It's sad to see the damage to the hotel, especially knowing that Jay and Mary have invested much sweat equity into it. However, it certainly looks like the property survived mostly intact. And it appears that their airplane and cars (and hangar) survived intact also; no doubt many were not quite so lucky. Surely anyone who lives along the coast knows that hurricane damage is inevitable at some point in the future.

Having followed Jay and Mary's trials and victories with their hotels since they lived in Iowa, I regret not visiting Amelia's Landing prior to the damage. However, Jay always seems to have such a positive attitude and be incurably self-motivated, so Amelia's Landing will no doubt be back better than it was before.


JKG
 
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Troy Whistman (@TangoWhiskey) and a few others are loading up a 16ft trailer worth of blower fans, generators, electrical cords, and other tools and supplies to aid Jay in this step of his recovery. They depart from Grand Prairie early Friday morning.
 
Wow, great that damage was minimal. Not to far from the worst of it. Plenty of cleanup for sure.

If one is able it seems flying one's plane away from the hurricane is still a good option.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Troy Whistman (@TangoWhiskey) and a few others are loading up a 16ft trailer worth of blower fans, generators, electrical cords, and other tools and supplies to aid Jay in this step of his recovery. They depart from Grand Prairie early Friday morning.
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Wish I could join you.
I am sure you have considered this, but load up as much gasoline as you can. Even if that is all you take, you can be a big help.
Well, that and drinking water.
 
JOhnH said:
Wish I could join you.
I am sure you have considered this, but load up as much gasoline as you can. Even if that is all you take, you can be a big help.
Well, that and drinking water.
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Because if the moronic gasoline hoarding situation, they are taking one truck, with trailer, and it is diesel.
 
SCCutler said:
Because if the moronic gasoline hoarding situation, they are taking one truck, with trailer, and it is diesel.
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In times of shortage, hoarding is rational behavior. Where I live, we are very dependent on the Colonial pipeline, any interruption of service puts us in a shortage situation very quickly, and there's not an alternative to gasoline for most of us.
 
FormerHangie said:
In times of shortage, hoarding is rational behavior. Where I live, we are very dependent on the Colonial pipeline, any interruption of service puts us in a shortage situation very quickly, and there's not an alternative to gasoline for most of us.
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Yep, all the stations in our town are out. Thank goodness we filled our vehicles and will just try not to drive much until this passes.
 
I'm sorry I don't have time for more, but I just wanted to say this: I never thought angels would manifest themselves as pilots, but I should have known better.

Thanks to Troy and our North Texas pilot friends, yesterday we were able to get big fans running under both buildings and in all the rooms simultaneously. We are in a huge race against mold and rot here, and that's what we needed more than anything else.

Thank you, guys. And that cold Shiner Bock on a 90 degree day, after four days of shoveling rotten fish muck, never tasted so good!

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