https://www.yahoo.com/news/hurricane-michael-mangled-least-17-183700816.html?bcmt=1&guccounter=1

My question - couldn't they have TRUCKED them out of there? Even if it cost a million bucks per plane it would have been money well spent, right?

Short answer, No.




Wheels

Doesn't the airforce have these protecto-thingies, what do they call them --- shelters???

Even if you can't fly away your precious toys, at least make room for them under a few dozen inches of concrete.
This reeks like mismanagement to me. I don't think this was inescapable fate.

I think some heads need to roll in the air force. This is inexcusable and blatant disregard for taxpayer dollars and resources. #%&*$# it to hell, I want to make a political comment right now but this isn't PWEC.

Yeah, it's one thing for "Hey Boss, we should do this or that - Reply 'nope, ain't in the budget, work with what you've got'"

But these are "Crown Jewels" of the United States of America.

This is an embarrassment. Some of our best fighters just got took out on the ground, in home territory, and not by something as sudden as an earthquake or tornado.

And it's not like a lot of foresight is needed to know that if you're going to store planes in Florida you just might have a hurricane...

EDIT: I want to make it crystal clear I'm just talking of the fate of some airplanes here. I mean no disrespect or ignorance toward the human disaster going on there. Let's keep this to USAF...

I bet heads WILL roll - but not the ones that should.

I can't be the first person to ask the question "What do we do with all these planes when the next hurricane hits?".

I only asked (in hindsight) that question today, but SOMEONE had to have asked that question before - or maybe not because of being afraid to "rock the boat"?

I know, I'm doing total "Monday Morning Quarterback" here, but jesus.....

Call me a complete dumba$$ here but, why could they not just fly them to a safe zone? The F22 can air refuel right?? The REALLY SCARY thing is that this is the same Air Force that we depend on to defend the USA from attack Nationally. Two days and you can't move 17 F22s to safety?
Common MAN! I hope some heads do role.

S!Blade<><

^ From what I read these aircraft were undergoing maintenance and not certified to fly out.

Yes, but they couldn't be taxied/otherwise pushed into shelters?
And if the shelters were full, could THOSE planes not be flewn out to make room?

Exactly what I was thinking.... how come the Hanger Queens weren't put in ... hangers?

Government-run stupidity isn't confined to just welfare and entitlement programs.

No hard shelters I could see on the aerials.

Soft hangers were torn up.

Lack of hard shelters in a hurricane prone area for is an oversight to put it mildly, especially for 1/3 of a BILLION$ airplanes!

Lots of Arm Chair Quarterbacks here with finger pointing going on that don't really know the situation. The probably is, the Hurricane was rated as a Cat 2 and was not anticipated to be a near Cat V hurricane. But, thanks to climate change and extremely warm waters combined with a record drop in barometric pressure the storm rapidly increased in power. By the time they figured out it was going to be larger than a Cat 2, the conditions were too extreme/unsafe to launch aircraft. They were left there because the shelters are designed to withstand a Cat II or III hurricane, not a Finger of God Cat V. Some of the aircraft were most likely not flyable anyway due to MX issues. No heads will roll. Protocol was followed. Move on.

FFS, did anyone forget that the F-22s are all weather interceptors and designed to go Mach 2 through a rainstorm while pulling high Gs which is more brutal on a plane than 185 mph winds and some debris? There are pictures of air buses at airports that were hit by hurricanes and you can see that they are fully intact and may require some repairs and preventive maintenence.

It is pretty simple, you prepare for the worst and then be thankful if it is a lesser blow. I don't buy that cat 2 talk. I payed attention to the reports when this thing was on the south end of the Gulf and they were talking 4 days in advance of how this hurricane would strengthen and could become a possible Cat 4 as it crossed the Gulf and came upon the shallower warm waters 2/3s of the way across. Anyone with any sense would have prepared for the worst. Someone said that these aircraft were in for repairs and were not cleared to fly. This I can see being a problem. I am thinking get heavy lift Military helos and airlift them out of harms way and put them under National Guard protection until they are returned. Sorry, maybe it is just me but someone in the Armed services should have been able to come up with some way to prevent this from happening to the F22s. What really boggles my mind is how they don't have harden bunkers for these planes when this AF base is within a stones throw of the Gulf of Mexico figuratively???

S!Blade<><

a) Don't like Monday Morning quarterbacking more than anyone else, and if there were no hard shelters, I understand how that could have happened. But still highly embarrassing for the Air Farce, given that their toys are becoming more and more precious and fewer in numbers all the time. It's not just 20/20 hindsight that tells you that you need to do more to protect your assets within that trend (and that trend is hardly news).

b) Mach 2 flights and hurricane conditions on the ground are two entirely different things. The plane most certainly is designed to withstand aerodynamic and g forces. But hurricanes throw around a bit more than "just some debris". Just because some buses are lucky and fully intact afterwards doesn't mean that a plane wouldn't get damaged by, say, a flying lightpole impacting at around at 150mph.

Does anyone here know why we have Raptors based there in the first place? Against what kind of threat could/would they be scrambled for in that area?

The Mexican Air Force Sir! Don't underestimate them.

Couldn't resist posting the Goose one, LMAO!
Actually, I am pretty sure Tyndall AFB is the home of F22 training for the USA, or was.

Tyndall AFB
S!Blade<><

I'd never thought of it, but I think Mach 2 would be impossible through rain.

Firstly to even go that fast you'd be above any rain (I think).

Second, even if you could go that fast at a low enough altitude I would think raindrops would be like bullets at that speed.

Now you've got me wondering what's the fastest anyone has flown through rain...

Right, because we know the Earth never had CAT 2 hurricanes turn into CAT 4 hurricanes suddenly in the 1800's or earlier.....


It's almost as if the Earth itself is only a few thousand years old!