A deadly storm system that killed at least 17 people in the London, Kentucky area on Friday also destroyed much of the local airport. Officials were tabulating the damage on Sunday but it would appear that at least a half dozen aircraft, including a medevac helicopter, several vintage airplanes and an ultralight were destroyed by a tornado that cut right through the airport. Private hangars were also flattened but it's not clear how many aircraft were inside them. It was reported that one aircraft was sucked up into the vortex of the funnel cloud.
When I see things like this I think about what role should the federal government be playing in national disasters, especially when they are related to weather events. Funds for climate research, the NWS and NOAA and FEMA are all being cut and some want to eliminate these departments all together. I don’t know who is going to go out into the field and investigate the intensity of tornadoes and the extend of the damage they cause if the NWS wasn’t there to do it. I don’t know who will step in to analyze these severe weather outbreaks and use the data to determine how severe weather patterns are changing, if the federal government doesn’t do it. Who will spend years studying our atmosphere trying to determine how it is being affected by both natural and manmade activities? I really don’t see the private sector issuing TAFs for most airports around the country, supporting METARs and airport weather observations, or, issuing convective sigmets. And, after disaster strikes, who should step in to help these poor people… individual states, counties and towns, or should the federal government, with all of its resources, coordinate the response? Some might say now is not the time to discuss things like this, but I think now is exactly the time to do so.
This is terrible, but it’s a consequence of life on Earth. No government bureaucracy will eliminate risk or sin. To try is folly. The climate is changing. It always will be changing. Hand wringing will profit us not at all. This is why we buy insurance, but one way or another bad stuff occurs.
Damn, amazing no one was killed or injured at the airport. Insurance may make people whole from a money standpoint, but sometimes it isn’t just the money.
Used to live at a private airstrip. A hurricane was forecast inbound. We secured our property best we could and evacuated. Got back home the next day. There was one gap in the line of hangars on the north side. A wooden hangar had been picked up, lifted up over a house and then deposited on the street. Of course the hangar was just a pile of wood at that point, but the house was not touched. Other than some minor roof damage on some structures and trees down, nothing else was significantly damaged. Sometimes it just boils down to luck.
There is big difference between mitigating risk and eliminating risk (and what does sin have to do with this story?). Government “bureaucracies” which require earthquake resistant construction, wind resistance, not building in flood plains, and clearing out fuel for forest and grass fires are examples of valuable, life and property saving government bureaucracy. You didn’t mention it, but having personal, equipment, food, drinking water and shelter in place to rapidly respond to disasters is also a critical, valuable government function.
It’s a weather phenomena - no amount of “climate research” or government bureauocracy will stop a tornado’s destruction. This is why we have the option of being insured.
There’s not much you can do to prevent tornado damage unless you build hangars underground. Several years ago we had one come through the airport in Hickory NC. It destroyed a large group of open hangars with aircraft in them. Tornado warnings are good but they are only issued a short time before the tornado hits and cover the size of a city or small county. Their path is just too unpredictable. Tornado watches are issued 1 - 2 hours beforehand but they cover entire counties or even a state. That doesn’t give an aircraft owner much time to relocate an aircraft to a safer area. I rent a T-hangar for my airplane at a local airport. The metal hangar building is well-made and meets federal standards (NFPA 409) but it probably wouldn’t survive a tornado greater than EF1 strength (86 - 110 mph). I think the only thing an aircraft owner can reasonably do is relocate the aircraft if a tornado watch is issued. As far as improving the accuracy of tornado watches and warnings, high-altitude hurricane hunter aircraft like what NOAA uses with Doppler radar or Lidar might give us more accuracy. Budget and staff cuts to NOAA will probably reduce the use of these aircraft.