Plan B Forum

I've had a flight delayed by a monsoon in Arizona, but this is a whole different animal.

Earlier this week, a microburst was hovering above Phoenix, Arizona. One photographer named Jerry Ferguson was in the right place at the right time and managed to take a breathtaking photo of it.

Ferguson was flying a news helicopter, shooting footage for a local television station, when he noticed a huge mushroom-shaped cloud hovering over Phoenix. The cloud turned out to be a microburst – a downdraft that moves in a way opposite of a tornado. Meteorology experts say they are extremely dangerous, as they often have high winds that can knock over fully grown trees and wind shears can even cause fatal aircraft crashes.

We had several (not that large) last Monday in a thunderstorm. Trees down and roads were closed. Even here there were outdoor furniture and flowerpots flying around. At a boat storage facility in the shipyard where the commuter ferry docks, there were a couple of large boats (still on land) that got knocked over and off their stands, including a quite large 40-foot+ sailboat. It was completely mangled. Hate to make that insurance claim.

We had one of those hit my area late afternoon on Saturday and another last evening around dinnertime. The one Saturday tore out some very large trees on the other side of town. I watched yesterday's storm coming, and it looked like a tornado with lots of lightning. With the heat wave this week I expect occasional thunderstorms, but these have been really intense.

There have been many times when people have thought damage to their property was due to a tornado when in fact it was caused by a down burst. A neighbor's hangar was blown down by a down burst several years ago. I'm not talking about a small tin pole barn. It was a 2X4 stud walled wood sided building, about measuring 40X60 feet. They said the straight line wind was about 110 MPH. My tin pole barn hangar was only slightly damaged, possibly because its big door opens to the south. His opened directly into the west wind. Once the 40' wide door blew in, atop his Piper Pacer, the side walls bowed out like a big balloon. The rest was history.

Was the aircraft salvageble ?

kmccune wrote:Was the aircraft salvageble ?

No, not easily. Almost anything can be fixed if you want to throw enough time and money at it. Pacers (actually all aircraft I can think of) weren't worth as much 33 years ago as they are now. He let his insurance company have it and bought an uninspiring Cherokee 140. The left gear was collapsed and more than just the tip of that wing was touching the hangar floor. The tail was crushed into the back wall. It didn't leave what was left of the hangar because collapsed rafters were holding it down.

Sounds like a case where the avionics were worth more than airframe.

How do insurance companies settle on this type of damage? Does the owner get to keep the instrument panel or does that go with the damaged plane?