Unless you’ve been hiding in a storm shelter, and maybe you have, you know that southeastern USA was hit hard yesterday by tornadoes and thunderstorms. Today I’ve heard from friends all over the country asking if we were hit here in east Tennessee. Except for wind and rain, we were not. Do any readers have stories of airports and storms?
Once, when I was working for Montgomery/Huntsville (AL) Aviation, I was picking up a new airplane at Piper’s Vero Beach, FL, factory. I got word from the Big Boss, Bob Hudgens—who was also in Florida at an NATA meeting—that I should head for Huntsville immediately to deal with insurance claims—Huntsville Aviation (HAC) had been hit hard by a tornado.
HAC had lost the roof of the big hangar, which included the maintenance shop. Damaged and totaled airplanes were all over the place. My first shock was the sound of ELTs sounding off loudly in my cockpit radios miles before I arrived, though I was definitely not tuned to their frequency. The big question was, how long do ELT batteries last? The answer? They last days longer than advertised or expected.
In the meantime, our then insurance company, National Aviation Underwriters (betcha haven’t heard that name for awhile) had arranged to present Bob Hudgens a big check—I think it was $100,000—at the convention. That gave both companies some good PR, and it was the sort of thing that can happen when two companies truly trust each other.
I can’t remember exactly how many airplanes were lost in the tornado, but it was up in the double digits. Damage was so bad that both customers and employees were surprised, impressed and appreciative when HAC was open and selling fuel the day after the tornado. Many of them had thought that the company was done for after that tornado.
How many of you have stories of airports and tornadoes, thunderstorms, hurricanes and other disasters? Please send them along by commenting below. Or, send me an email ([email protected]) and I’ll copy it into the comments.
