So...today I'm at work (Air National Guard Technician) and I start watching the weather radar around lunch time. There was a pretty good sized storm crossing through Chicago and heading our way. When I looked back about 45 minutes later the storm had already travelled about 75 miles and was really getting close. I figured at the speed it was travelling (80mph) that we had maybe an hour until it got to us in North East Indiana. Oh goody, we have three A-10Cs in the air and they're expected back after the storm hits us so we'll be recovering them in the rain.

Somebody got the great idea to bring the A-10s back early...try to beat the storm. Well, the skies started turning black, and our city's three medivac helicopters flew in and landed fast to get into an airport hangar for protection...that's when you know it's going to be a big storm. Shortly after that our three A-10s landed. The wind started picking up a bit and we thought it was going to be pretty close but we should be able to get the jets recovered and tied down. As the final jet taxiied into the spot where I was helping out we all noticed a LOT of dust picking up from the other side of the airport...and the dust cloud was rolling on it's side like a funnel cloud.

I got my side chocked and the landing gear pinned and was ready to do a tire roll over check when I saw the crew chief motioning to keep the chocks in. By now the wind was really picking up and we were starting to get some of the dust and pebbles hitting us. Okay, we're going to do an emergency shut down and find cover. Too late.

I went to reposition the back chock and the airplane started rolling backward from the wind...and the engines were still running at idle so it shouldn't be rolling backward...lol. Got the chock back in while bracing myself from the wind when I saw the aircraft forms book go sliding past me. I ran after it so it wouldn't blow away (they're pretty important) and got knocked off my feet as I grabbed for it. By now I was getting pelted by gravel and any other debris that was on the ramp so I just sat down facing away from it. Then the gust got so strong I started to worry a little and just layed back, but as I did all I saw were every ladder, toolbox, aircraft covers, big Joboxes like construction workers use, headsets...anything not tied down went sliding or tumbling past me. I knew there were still things like that in the spot I was working so I kept looking back to make sure I wasn't going to get hit with anything.

I looked up and then saw a hydraulic test stand (Mule) start to drive away by itself across the ramp. This thing has to weigh at least 1500lbs and so it wouldn't run into anything I ran to it to check the brakes. They were set, but I released and reset them which got it stopped. I then hunkered down beside it out of the wind and flying debris. As I looked around again I saw my buddies hanging on to landing gear struts, structure supports for our sunshade shelters we were in, or whatever they could hold on to. Finally my supervisor drove up to me in a "bread truck" and told me to get in so we could get out of the storm.

After the storm we did our damage assessment. My jet has rudder damage from an intake cover that partially blew off and just beat the piss out of the left side of my airplane. A few more jets have some minor damage, and about 4-5 jets actually moved even though they were tied down. On of my jet's chock ropes was under the right tire which means the right side of my jet lifted so the rope could get under it.

This microburst had sustained winds clocked at 91mph and lasted for (what seemed like forever) about 2-3 minutes. Definately something I never want to be caught outside in again! Luckily nobody was hurt although the base and a few aircraft took some damage.

Mother Nature sure threw one heck of a tantrum in your neck of the woods.


Wheels

Glad no one was hurt!




Bullet

Sounds like the same thing went through Kentucky right before the race practice today.

I bet it was one of these, a derecho.

I was watching the radar and it had the signature "bow", although that can also indicate a tornado.

In any event, I'm glad the only damage was to property.

We got hit by probably the same system. It was a couple hundred miles long but came through in about 30 mins max. I was out in my yard playing cards with some friends, it started to get cloudy and dark and we decided to go in. About 30 seconds later all hell broke loose in my yard, branches flying all over the place, I ran back out to flip over my patio table since it has a glass top and the last thing I wanted to do was deal with it shattering. The wind felt a lot stronger than last fall when I was in LA for Tropical Storm Lee, just very little rain. Our power went out about 2 minutes after that and didn't come back on for about 12-14 hours. Luckily my parents got their power on at midnight so my girlfriend, our son and I headed there since its supposed to be close to 100 degrees here again. As we pulled into my parents driveway I noticed the 25 ft Fir tree that was down in their yard. I spent most of the morning with my dad cleaning that up and fighting the rest of the city to get to the dump to get rid of it. After our last trip with debris we swung by my house to check the power which luckily had come back on sometime in the previous 2 hours. And of course there is the possibility for more severe weather here tonight.

Good grief; I feel abashed at moaning about the weather in England recently. (Wettest June since records begun)

Yeah Squirrels, when I got home I had three huge limbs broken and branches all over my yard. Luckily nothing hit my house or barn, but I spent a couple hours with my chainsaw after the sun came back out and it was muggy as hell...lol. Beer tasted awesome last night...lol.



I didn't lose power for more than a blip because only a couple clocks were flashing but Ft Wayne and surrounding areas had around 100,000+ without power and I think they may still be without. Really sucks for them because today is once again very hot and now muggy.