cutlermaine
Glad to hear that Paul is okay - prayers to everyone affected in Florida who has been impacted by this major storm. Thanks for the reporting.
Glad to hear that Paul is okay - prayers to everyone affected in Florida who has been impacted by this major storm. Thanks for the reporting.
Paul was smart enough to fly his airplane out, we assume. Why weren’t all these other pilots? They had several days’ notice. If a hurricane were headed within 1,000 miles, I’d fly my plane to another state, far enough away not to worry about it. The U.S. has over 5,000 airports; you can always find a safe tiedown somewhere. Sure, I understand a few people can’t because they are out of town, too busy, or the plane can’t be flown. But it looks like way too many people just leave their aircraft in harm’s way and hope for the best. And then everybody else has to pay the insurance costs.
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Christy, where do you live? I’m based at F45 in south Florida. The tornado that hit HOW was 200 miles away from the hurricane. Over 50% of the population of the USA live within 1000 miles of F45. Within 1000 miles of F45 is Boston, Chicago, Tulsa, Dallas, Costa Rico, Columbia. Nearly 100% of all trop storms and hurricanes are within 1000 miles of F45. I would be moving 10 times per year. Having spent 32 years owning aircraft in North Carolina and Florida, it takes a much more nuanced decision on when to move an aircraft. Many times I’ve made the decision to keep my plane in a solid hanger rather than move the aircraft and tie it down. I doubt if anyone on the NY metro area moved their plane when Ian was within 1000 miles of them.
I did not fly out. With a 65 MPH airplane, there’s usually no practical way to do it because of the distances involved. And then getting back to weather the storm or take a dog and wife in the airplane to weather it somewhere else.
Not a player for me this time. If I had a Cirrus…
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Paul, we are glad to hear that both you and the Cub are okay. I’m sorry for all those owners that lost planes across the state, but, as you say, the decision on whether to leave or not is often difficult. These storms are always unpredictable and a change in course of even a few degrees can make a huge difference in their damage potential for your area. Florida is particularly challenging in that regard, being long and narrow. For you to escape the path would mean flying all the way up to Georgia or even Alabama to be sure of avoiding any damage. Here on the Texas Gulf Coast, we are no strangers to hurricanes, but at least we have lots of options as to where a safe haven would be to escape a storm. Hope your home and family are okay as well.
I’m not Paul, but I’d settle for them paying my hull insurance. 
Crista, as one who lost an airplane in a hurricane (H. Fran T-boned KRDU in 1996) I know that unless I have a very fast plane, I cannot “just fly my plane to another state”. Sure, the forecasts are getting better, but do you remember all the spaghetti-plots being depicted three days out? They showed potential paths that were pretty-much all over the eastern seaboard of the US. Those plots were of the eye of the hurricane; dangerously high winds extend for quite a few miles on all sides. Up here in NC, I can go only so far east (Kitty Hawk) and with potential paths as far west as mid-Tennessee, I’d have to relocate to Memphis to be confident of finding safety.
Paul is in the neck of the funnel, being feet-wet as soon as he lifts-off to the west, ditto (and still well within the noodles) an hour or so to the east, and looking at days of flying in any northerly direction to find “safety”.
My plane is undergoing its annual in my hangar with all fairings, inspection plates, and prop off, so relocation was not an option. It is still safe and dry.
We both made the best choice.
In 1992 I flew on of my planes (KHWO based) to KMEZ in an attempt to avoid Hurricane Andrew. This was in the late evening before landfall. During the night, the storm turned East and hit Homestead, sparing KHWO, and the city of Hollywood. I never moved another of my aircraft over the next 30 years. I avoided storms all over Florida, just by dumb luck. My plane was moved to KFPR late last year, so I missed again…
The best reason to move your plane for a hurricane is in response to an evacuation order, in order to save lives. Plan on at least a 300 mile flight, in a northerly direction, and then land to assess the next move. Also be aware that you may not be able to return to your home base by personal plane or even airline, when you want to.
Crista,
Your ignorance is understandable.
With only about 48 hours to get clear, things get prioritized. Family and pets come first. Then prepping the house. Next is determining the things you don’t want to lose and getting those loaded up. Finally, finding a place to go. Trust me, all of that takes at least a day. Now it’s only 24 hours until it hits. If the weather is good (which it usually isn’t by then), you can hop in the plane (leaving your spouse to handle driving everyone and everything else out of the target zone) and fly… somewhere. Hopefully you’ve got something that can fly faster than 120kts. Because even though the hurricane isn’t that fast, its reach is long. And Florida is only about 100 miles across. So unless you’re okay flying over the Atlantic in a single engine aircraft, you have to hope the weather doesn’t worsen. One of the planes at N Perry was flown there to get out of the forecast path. Half the planes destroyed at F95 during Michael in 2018 were there to escape the forecast path.
So it’s just not as simple as “flying to another state”. At the end of it, you would realize that an airplane is a replaceable object. And this is coming from a person who spent 8 years building an airplane. And I gave it absolutely ZERO thought when Michael was approaching.
So keep your armchair quarterbacking opinions to yourself.