Hurricane preparedness how do you prepare if your plane is outside.

FloridaPilot

FloridaPilot

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Hello,

With Hurricane Arthur approaching, I was wondering how do you prepare your airplane, (If at all) for strong winds if you are on a tie down? Do you move your airplane?


Thanks for your input!
 
My guess is you fly it inland and tie it down so it can ride out he storm away from most of the wind. Here in the Midwest we don't get much warning of our wind storms, they kind of just show up.

Go inland with it.

Flav
 
If you need to take care of house and family. Pay a commercial rated pilot to fly it inland. Have a destination picked for him with a hangar available.
 
If the plane is your priority.fly it inland to a safe airport,rent a spot in a hanger ,and relax.
 
Most people try to either fly it to another airport away from the storm or attempt to make arrangements to temporarily put the airplane in a vacant hangar during the storm.

Around here in Norfolk, the FBOs will typically cram the community hangars of as many airplanes as they can fit. I just got a memo from Landmark advising folks that would be packing the hangars full and asking for pilots to let them know now if we are planning to fly either immediately before or immediately after the storm.
 
In addition, many insurance policies will pay some amount for your costs in moving it out of the way, so check your policy. I assume this is because they consider it cheaper to pay you to move it than take the chance it will be totaled in the storm.
 
I have relocated a few planes just for the flying time. Better safe than sorry. Best time flying and paying for my own hotel. Day or two later I'm back.
 
I relocated many times when I was based in S FL.

If anyone needs a port in a storm, feel free to fly into Copperhill, TN and we'll see what we can do to get you tied down or in a hangar and a place to stay.
 
FloridaPilot said:
Hello,

With Hurricane Arthur approaching, I was wondering how do you prepare your airplane, (If at all) for strong winds if you are on a tie down? Do you move your airplane?


Thanks for your input!
Click to expand...

First choice: Fly it out of harm's way.
Second choice: Get it into a hangar.
 
Fly it out of the storms path

Or buy insurance and start looking on barnstormers
 
At the very least, tie down every point you can, including wing tips and prop. Use at least two ropes or chains at every point. Place sand bags on the wings to break the flow of air that creates lift, tail too. Check insurance and increase value. Pray. Good luck.
 
AuntPeggy said:
First choice: Fly it out of harm's way.
Second choice: Get it into a hangar.
Click to expand...

Hangars are an OK choice, but Andrew and Charley (and others) showed they can give a false sense of security.

Charlotte County airport hangar after Charley:

PG-charlotte9.jpg


"If in doubt, fly it out!"

SC/NC coastal pilots, your window of opportunity is closing.
 
FloridaPilot said:
Hello,

With Hurricane Arthur approaching, I was wondering how do you prepare your airplane, (If at all) for strong winds if you are on a tie down? Do you move your airplane?


Thanks for your input!
Click to expand...

Leave with it.
 
If you stay on the ground, don't forget control locks! My plane doesn't have any . . . But when the tornado hit SnF, we knew storms were forecast, so I put bungees holding the yokes together. I used two. Snug up all outside ropes, take pictures (including whatever control locks you have inside) and hope for the best. I came out OK, but many planes around mine did not.
 
Henning said:
Leave with it.
Click to expand...

This. Anyone who rides out a hurricane is a fool in the book of Steingar. Grab your spouse and the kids (or just the kids if you aren't too fond of the spouse…), pack them into the ship and head inland. Come back when it blows over. If your property is OK, business as usual. If not, call your insurer.

You can replace your crib. You can replace your stuff. You might even upgrade on the spouse, but you can't replace your kids and you aren't replaceable either.
 
In Florida even "inland" isn't all that safe - think 2004 when the storms criss-crossed the state and even took out part of Jack Brown's operation in Winter Haven. There's just not enough land mass here to reliably weaken some of the biggest storms. For me "inland" is central Alabama and above.
 
steingar said:
This. Anyone who rides out a hurricane is a fool in the book of Steingar. Grab your spouse and the kids (or just the kids if you aren't too fond of the spouse…), pack them into the ship and head inland. Come back when it blows over. If your property is OK, business as usual. If not, call your insurer.

You can replace your crib. You can replace your stuff. You might even upgrade on the spouse, but you can't replace your kids and you aren't replaceable either.
Click to expand...

Actually, I take the plane out of harms way, usually ferry a few extras, then return for the storm to work it. Then we go get the planes back.
 
I was very relieved to have my Tiger in her new (to me!) hangar at KSUT (Cape Fear Regional) today.. we were right in the path of Arthur,which is still blowing hard as I write this!
 
FlyGirlKHWO said:
I was very relieved to have my Tiger in her new (to me!) hangar at KSUT (Cape Fear Regional) today.. we were right in the path of Arthur,which is still blowing hard as I write this!
Click to expand...

I hope it doesn't turn out too bad for you out there. It's a Cat 2 now (100mph winds).
 
How'd you guys make out?

In addition to wind, there's always the sea level rise to worry about. Many coastal airports are barely above SL, and I assume a plane even partially submerged by salt water is probably toast.

Good luck with your Tiger. Next time I'd highly recommend vacating out of harm's way. It's not like most of us don't look for excuses to go flying anyway!
 
FastEddieB said:
In addition to wind, there's always the sea level rise to worry about. Many coastal airports are barely above SL, and I assume a plane even partially submerged by salt water is probably toast.
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Fortunately, though, since in this case Arthur is paralleling the coast, the surge should be minimal because the "storm surge side" (the right side) is staying off the coast.

If the storm was on a more westerly track and came ashore at Myrtle Beach or North Myrtle Beach then she might be in lots bigger trouble.
 
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timwinters said:
Fortunately, though, in this case since the Arthur is paralleling the coast, the surge should be minimal because the "storm surge side" (the right side) is staying off the coast.
Click to expand...

Yay!

Still, watching snippets this morning from the Weather Channel, we saw Jim Cantore standing in knee deep water on HWY 12 in NC.

just saying the Most Conservative Action is usually to vacate - I did it probably four or five times while living in S FL, the most recent being Hurricane Jeanne in 2004.

As an aside, I bought my Tiger as a result of a Fly-In in Homestead after Andrew. It was a seller's market since so many "non-vacated" planes had been destroyed. Many had insurance checks in hand, looking for new planes.
 
FastEddieB said:
Yay!

just saying the Most Conservative Action is usually to vacate
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Definitely won't get an argument from me there. I'm just saying that they might have been lucky this time because it's skirting up the coast.
 
FastEddieB said:
Hangars are an OK choice, but Andrew and Charley (and others) showed they can give a false sense of security.

Charlotte County airport hangar after Charley:

PG-charlotte9.jpg


"If in doubt, fly it out!"

SC/NC coastal pilots, your window of opportunity is closing.
Click to expand...


not much you can do when a Cat 5 is bearing down on you but move out of its way. :yikes:
 
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