This week we were working with Maule Air at their display at the Sun & Fun 2011 fly in Lakeland, Fl (we are sales reps.). The week began poorly with lots of bad weather in Alabama and Georgia which was effectively blocking many pilots/visitors from flying in to the event. Tuesday and weds. were ok but the crowds were obviously diminished. We were making the best of it and did meet some nice folks and caught up with old friends we see only at the shows.
Thursday was the big event!
Around 11AM the Sun & Fun folks told us to take down the tent and move to cover in the hangars. Seems a bad thunderstorm is on the way from the west. Brent Maule and I secured everything and we walked over to one of the big hangers to visit with the Lycoming engine folks while the storm passed. Once inside the hangar and around midday the rain and lightning began in earnest. It got black as night and the wind started to blow really hard. Then it all began to roar very loudly. I have heard this before....not good! Staff closed the large doors to the hangar so we could not see what was happening outside but these huge doors shook like a screen door on your porch! Then the lights went out. I thought any minute the roof would let go but the heavy steel hangar held together.
10 minutes later it was over and we looked outside to total devastation!. Outdoor vendors had their booths and products blown away, porta potties in rows blown over, tree limbs and trash everywhere. It was still raining but we walked out to the taxiway and then we saw the airplanes on the line. An awful sight! Airplanes wadded up like paper, some smashed to bits and some laying on top of others broken to various degree. If you love airplanes this is a sickening sight for sure. Our display Maule was severely damaged (it is seen in the photo at the far left) with the left wing broken down and the tail bent up. However, it was sitting upright on it's gear. We think another airplane flipped over and landed on it. The Maules called the plant who sent a crew down the next day to dismantle the pretty red airplane and take it back to the plant.
Sun & Fun staff say 70 airplanes were either damaged or destroyed. It looked worse. The NWS stated we had a micro burst and a F1 tornado hit the field. Our show was obviously over so I left on Friday morning to return home to Georgia. Mother nature tired her best to blow us away but we made it through this time! Hopefully, we will not see this kind of disaster ever again at any air or motorcycle show.
Our best wishes go out to those outdoor vendors who lost everything and to the owners of the aircraft that were destroyed.
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