South Central Alaska Windstorm

Just checking on the Anchorage/SC Alaska folks, how are your planes doing in this windstorm?

Anchorage Windstorm

On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, March 12 and 13, Anchorage had a very intense storm of frigid north winds blowing from Northern Alaska. Wind speed of 109 mph was recorded at the Anchorage International Airport Control Tower. That is when the Controllers departed the Tower and closed down the airport for one of the few times during its operation. Hurricane-force gusts caused widespread damage in the Anchorage area as the wind tore off roofs, toppled trees, shattered windows, froze and burst pipes, and triggered power outages. The wind chill was 40 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). The wind storm hammered aircraft at all airports in Southcentral Alaska. However, the most damage to aircraft occurred at International and Lake Hood Airports where over 31 aircraft were substantially damaged by flipping upside down or having wing strut failure and subsequently a collapsed wing. About a dozen aircraft were substantially damaged at Merrill Field. A walk-a-round at Palmer and Wasilla Airports today (March 16) did not reveal any major damaged aircraft. I did not see one collapsed wind.

Cub Special Driver

Windstrom aircraft damage

This is a website with some photos of the damage to aircraft at the Lake Hood area. Note the U-Haul protection wall that saved one aircraft. I am considering the value of the heavy duty rear struts from Airframes.
Robert

http://community.webshots.com/album/66415045QBedzY

wind damage

I was tied down at Lake Hood. I lost a rear strut but save the wing.
I also broke a tail spring. I did order an unbreakable strut from
Airframes. Could have been worse. Dave.

Airframes Rear Lift Struts

While I was on the phone ordering my new heavy duty lift struts on Thursday morning, the lady there said they had just had a call from a customer at Merrill who had the HD struts and his plane was fine, but planes on each side of him had collapsed struts. Did anyone see this and by any chance get a picture?

I've heard storys about duct taping a 2x4 to each lift strut to help in heavy snow. Would this have saved some of these aircraft?

Gary R

Duct tape and 2x4's

2x4's (or maybe 2x6's for this storm), definitely saved a lot of planes in Anchorage this week.

The sad part is when you're out of town and not there to put them on.

A good percentage of the Cubs on Merrill's ski strip lost struts on at least one wing. The guy next to me on the strip had a friend of his (he was out of town) tape 2x4s to the struts prior to the storm. It came through okay. I don't know if he had HD stuts or not. The only damage I saw on his plane was a probable broken Rudder return spring.

I wasn't able to get to mine before my left rear strut broke. Friends wired some old lift struts to mine (which I'm sure saved the other side) that night. Possibly taping 2x4s to mine would have saved it. I'll replace the broken ones with HD struts but I'll also cut a few 2x4s to keep on hand with a couple of rolls of duct tape just in case the forecast calls for heavy winds again. I just hope I never see another storm like this one.

I am parked on Merrill strip and lost my left wing, saved my right one with 2x4's. I am definately putting on Lee Budde's HD rear struts when I go back together! Hoping to be back up before the Kings are running on the Alexander!

The attachment of 2X4s to my rear struts may or may not have saved them, but I sure wasn't going to take that risk. Also, the Cubs on either side of me lost flaps and ailerons, due to the use of gust locks. Well, the one on the right recieved a broken flap spring because he didn't pull the flaps...I looked over 712 real good, and I think I came out good, Thank God...!
Andy

I notice Aviat recommends tailing into the wind and puting flaps down. Any comments? Did the struts folding damage the wing attach fittings or any other fuselage damage?

delete

I think the Husky owners are the type of guys that would have hangars, or at least a tie-down into the wind. No offense to those of you with hangars... I think I did see a blue and white Husky at Lk. Hood with a sick wing though...
Andy

All the Husky's that I can think of were headed into the wind, except one. It had a fuel tank trailer parked behind it and came out OK.

Check out the thread, "Cub Carnage" under the "Hints and Tips" forum. I posted some photos. I have more, but didn't want to clog the bandwidth.

Definitely get out your flashlight and mirror and pull inspection covers following something like this storm.

Dave Calkins

Andy, Glad to hear you came out OK. Do you mean that the Cubs parked around you had control damage because they used gust locks, or because they didn't?

Mark, I caught what Andy said, too.

Actually, I can answer your question with a "YES".

I saw several Cessnas that were damaged when the gust locks finally blew off. The ail. and flap tips got tweaked as the gust locks left the control surface.

As a side-note, I went directly downwind of a friends 170 to find a couple gust locks that came off. I ended up at a chainlink fence that was littered with gustlocks. I still have the unmarked ones, and you guys can have 'em back if you can identify them.

Go to the "Cub Carnage" thread in the "tips" forum for some photo's, etc.

Dave Calkins.

Hi Mark!

One of the guys (as well has his michanic) next to me, who had to remove both sets of ailerons and flaps, told me he felt they were damaged because of the gust locks. Apparently the wind just took and twisted the shit out of the control surfaces because the gust locks held them stationary. Made sense to me, so I figured to just let mine flail around wildly, (pulling my flaps a notch of course) and I came out good. I am still looking over everything...
The only thing I ended up with was part of my metal belly coming loose and getting the crap twisted out of it...it needed a new lock screw anyway, so once we got it bent back into shape it came out better than before.
Andy

...Oops!

Interesting. I would look very closely at the entire control system if the gust locks were left off. Now instead of the flight control being streamlined it is being forced to the travel stop and then being pushed against it. Thus straining the whole system from one end to the other leading to damage to pullies, rod ends, and structrue. I have heard of a few Cessna's that have been damaged because the controls were allowed to flop around in the wind.
Lug

I once baby sat a ramp full of planes during a 70-100 mph wind storm with the wind hitting them all quartering from the tail. I tried everything to keep the controls on. The Cessnas ailerons were the worst. If they were just locked inside the cockpit, they would BOTH slam full down, then back to full up at the same time. The control systems were actually bending that much, and some was due to the flexing of the wings themselves. If you stood back and watched them oil can, you could actually see them getting bent down. If I wouldn't have seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed they could bend that much and still bounce back. Leaving the flaps down was saving the flaps, but I ended up bringing them up so external locks could be put between them and the ailerons, and ailerons and tips, to save the ailerons. Those wing nut type pinch locks are useless on wings. Because the control is wedge shaped, they would shake loose in just a few minutes. The only way I could keep them on was to duct tape or rope them forward over the top of the wing around the leading edge and back under to the lower lock plate. Since then, I have made my own wing locks with long nylon straps and buckles to secure them all the way around the leading edge. The nose draggers really took a beating. The wind would slam the tails down hard enough to bend things till vehicles were parked in front of them and the crankshafts tied down to the bumpers.

After this, I thought the best for a Super Cub would be to have external locks on the rudder and elevator tips, strap-on external locks between aileron-tip, aileron-flap, and flap-root fairing, (I think this is a good reason to keep the full length root fairing). Spoiler wing covers. And I think if faced with this situation with a tail wheel plane, I would get a truck with a fifth wheel or good tie down in the bed, lift the tail and set in in the bed and lash it down tight. This would get the wings up more level so the wind can't hit them so hard. And of course everyone laughs when I pull out my high grade 1" ropes to tie down a little bitty Cub, but the weren't at the airport that day.

The most common damage I found after this storm was bent aileron push rods on the Cessnas, PA12 type aileron systems. Almost all of them were bent, you had to put a straight edge on some of them and look real close to tell, and others looked like pretzles. Twisted rudders, elevators. The Cub types bend, the aluminum ones had cracked skin and spars just above the bell cranks. Check Cub wing control surface spars real close in the bell crank areas for cracks/bends. And check the wing internal structures REAL close. Just some things you guys up North may want to check - good luck.

Thanks Mark.

Several of my friends babysat their airplanes all night on this one and they had the same "...wouldn't have believed it without seeing it..." statements.

Plenty of the Cubs tailed to the wind got their rudders and elevators twisted because the gust locks held the counterbalance area but the wind just pushed the rest of the area around.

RedBaron Andy: if your airplane was tailed to the wind and the flaps were flipping down from the strength of the wind we had, you have severe damage to the internal structure of your flaps. You will have to clean away some dope and/or remove fabric to inspect the spars, hinge bracket, and nose rib junctions. The nose ribs commonly crack at their upper and lower corners at the aft flange. The spars will crack at the edge of the hinge brackets and at the hinge bracket rivet holes(tough to inspect). Some other a/c had their flaps blown completely off the a/c. If you were facing the wind, they're probably OK. BUT, if you don't have Atlees strut fitting braces and aux. tiedown straps, you better get a good look at your front strut fittings at the spar. They get pulled out the bottom of the wing when the wing tries to fly, but the tiedown ropes are holding down on the stock Piper tiedown rings.

It scares me to know what these a/c handled and also to know that some guys who didn't see it will just go hop in their a/c and fire it up, completely clueless.

QUARTERING TAILWIND


Dave Calkins.

Andy,

Check her out reaaaalll good, perhaps get David or another IA to help you. Having lived up there with you guys for 40+ years and been through many similar (although) I can't remember ever having that much wind from the NE? If one had the opportunity, we would try to get the tail up when parked either into or downwind, the key has always been, having the ability to "tie it down" as well as being able to keep it from banging (tail in a truck bed) is a good one (seldom possible after the wind get whipping!

Good luck and be safe!

Tim

Tim, I was thinking that if someone had a Cub, and a truck, (every good American has a big truck right?), without a 5th wheel, putting a recessed tie down in the center of the bed would be a good thing to have. Someone ambitious could even build up a small rack of some kind to sit in the bed to accept the tailwheel, and keep it laying around, just in case.

Also Dave, on the bent tail feathers with the tips locked, I forgot to mention the best way I have seen to lock these is to use 2 pieces of about 1" PVC pipe with foam pipe insulation on it long enough to go over the rudder/fin, elevator/stab longitudnally. Pinch the pipe ends together with bungees, duct tape or something. You could use 2 or 3 of these on each control along with the tip lock, PVC pipe is cheaper than tail feathers.

Edit, Dave, You are right. 1" is to small, don't know what I was thinking. In my legal defense, I did say "about 1" PVC". 2" to 4" would probably be better.

I haven't rehearsed it, yet, but I layed awake the next night after the BIG wind thinking of how a car tied to each wing and the tail of an a/c could help turn the a/c around during a heavy wind.

The problem is the a/c trying to weathervane into the wind when the tail rope is let loose. Also, the upwind wing getting lifted as the a/c is 90 degrees to the wind.

I think it can be done. By the way, I'm not talking a 35 or 45 MPH wind, I'm talking about 70, 80, 110 MPH. I've spun plenty of a/c into the wind in 35 to 45, using 3 or 4 guys. Just applying the same process but with the use of cars to tie down to, I think we could turn the a/c into the wind and save them even if it's blowing hard.

Dave.

Mark, and everyone else: The PVC pipe style gust locks are definitely a better answer than the counterbalance type. Using several per control is good, too. Consider going pretty heavy schedule and/or larger than 1 inch pipe, maybe even something to keep the pipes from spreading at the hinge line. A 185 owner I know came out well with this set up.

Extra tiedowns so you can face the wind will always be the best answer. When I put in permanent (for the season) ice tiedowns, I always plan several extras to handle different wind directions.

A variation on this theme would be to place a bunch of tiedowns in a circle and then belay(let off tension and take up tension, as required) the a/c while spinning it around to face the wind. Maybe one big tiedown under the gear cabane would be the "OH sH--" safety. With this setup even one guy could safely turn the thing around.

Maybe just build a block hanger and keep her in their............, naaaaah!

Seriously, you guys wouldn't believe the destruction without seeing it. I hope never to see it again.

Dave Calkins.

tiedown

Hi Dave
I posted this on another thread. If you have the chance to put a tiedown in where you are at, be sure to put in one directly beneath your cabane. This allows you to let the ac weathervane and also keeps the shock off of the wing attach fittings after you are retied. Have had to use this a few times and provides a good deal of piece of mind.

Edit Dave---missed your cabane tie down on first read ----sorry bud. By the way it has always been my favorite tiedown

Aileron Bellcrank Bracket Damage

In the process of rebuilding my PA-14 I found that my right rear spar was bent at the aileron bellcrank bracket. The web and both caps had been deformed inward at the inboard end of the bracket where it attaches with two bolts. I did not find the damage until I disassembled the wing and the spar twisted out of line. My plane probably got this in some storm it "survived" in its history when the aileron was loose and banging to the stops. I did not notice the damage when I took off the bracket. Examining everything afterwards it appears the the ribs held the spar in place and the only visible damage was a small stretch in the webbing at the bracket. The ribs had become structural elements holding the spar in place. Please be careful and inspect your aircraft carefully and encourage those parked around yours to inspect thiers. A quick look in the inspections holes may not tell the whole story. Take the time to do it right.
Robert

Killing the lift is real important in the big blows as is pointing 'er into the wind. I think a lot of planes were damaged because of owners reluctance to turn their planes into the wind, for whatever reason. Additionally, I think the intensity of this blow caught everyone off guard. I'm in the camp that likes gust locks as they don't allow the internal parts to get banged around.pak

Relative to the nose to the wind concept - I'm always suprised when the home page photo shows a float plane parked nose to the shore. I suppose in tundra with the right conditions it might be good. Generally the brush provides a good shore wind break and the danger is from the water. That goes for both wind and wave action.

Gary R

Hey SJ, or whoever the computer powers may be?

There is getting to be some really good info in this thread about ground handling Cubs that could save someones plane someday, hopefully it will continue. How about moving it somewhere permenant, like tips and tricks, or something?