"I Survived Sun 'n Fun" T-Shirts For Sale By Mary Grady The Sun 'n Fun tornado last week was certainly a dramatic enough event, and affected enough people, that a T-shirt to commemorate it was inevitable. By Saturday, show-goers were turning up with gray T-shirts that proclaim, "I survived Sun 'n Fun 2011," with a graphic of a spinning tornado tossing tents, airplanes, and various critters into the air. The actual tornado that hit the airport, while it was certainly damaging, was not quite so dramatic as the one on the T-shirt, but for those who were there, it's now officially a t-shirt-worthy event.
"Town Meeting" Issues: Avgas, Pilot Decline By Mary Grady U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who chairs the General Aviation Caucus in the House, visited Sun 'n Fun on Saturday to host a "Town Meeting" with a panel of GA leaders. Graves, who is a pilot himself, said it's important for all of GA to "stick together" to ensure that vital policy issues are addressed. Pete Bunce, head of GAMA, took on the issue of avgas, and said considerable progress has been made since the initial "sky is falling" concerns that arose several years ago when the EPA proposed to reduce allowable lead emissions. He commended FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt's efforts to address the problem, and said a lot of work has been done behind the scenes to educate the EPA and others about the safety issues involved in finding a replacement. Bunce and AOPA's Craig Fuller essentially said that leaded avgas is not going to go away until a reasonable and workable "drop-in" alternative fuel is available. "There is no reason to believe 100 low-lead will become unavailable in the foreseeable future," Fuller said.
Able Flight Awards First Career Training Scholarship By Mary Grady Able Flight, which helps people with disabilities learn to fly, awarded its first-ever career-training scholarship on Tuesday at Sun 'n Fun. The scholarship will provide funding for Paul Lampasso, a former New York City firefighter, to attend a three-week course that leads to an FAA repairman certificate for light sport aircraft. Lampasso's first career goal was to be a professional pilot, and he was enrolled at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and had completed his private pilot training when he was diagnosed with cancer and had to drop out. After regaining his health, he joined the NYC fire department, where he served for 11 years until a knee injury forced him to retire.
NWS Confirms: Lakeland Airport Hit By Tornado By Mary Grady The National Weather Service confirmed in a report released on Friday that a category EF-1 tornado hit the Lakeland airport on Thursday about noon time. The tornado had top winds estimated at 95 mph, a path length of just over a half mile, and a path width of about 30 to 40 yards. The NWS report also confirmed the impact of 70 to 75 mph "downburst thunderstorm severe straight-line winds," with the tornado impacting the west end of the runway about 12:05 p.m. The full NWS report is available online (PDF).
"It looks like there was a small tornado" among the straight-line winds and downbursts that hit Sun 'n Fun on Thursday, a National Weather Service spokesman told AVweb on Friday morning. Daniel Noah, in the Tampa Bay NWS office, said meteorologists are working on a full report of the event, which will be posted online at AVweb when it's available, later today. The storm, which lasted about 10 minutes or so, did extensive damage across the Sun 'n Fun campus, and damaged about 40 airplanes. By Friday morning, the field was largely cleaned up, though some piles of broken branches and other debris were still to be seen stowed away in corners. Most of the damaged airplanes had been re-located to a remote ramp on the field by early morning. Sopping-wet parking fields were slow to open, and showgoers lined up along the roadsides waiting to get in to park at 8 a.m. But at least airplanes were flying again, a welcome sound above what has been a fairly quiet show so far, with most flying grounded due to the wind and weather earlier in the week.
Storm Aftermath: Getting Back To Normal (Almost) By Mary Grady In the main exhibit area at Sun 'n Fun, most airplanes came through Thursday's storm unscathed, but a few suffered minor dings, and a few others were totaled. At Cessna, a couple of airplanes ended up with cracked fairings, where they apparently were hit by flying debris, but for the most part, a little extra mulch was laid down and by Friday morning the exhibit was back to normal, though muddy in spots. Over at Piper, they were not so lucky. Late in the morning, the exhibit was roped off with yellow tape while awaiting examination by insurance folks. A battered orange Rans S-7 that had blown over from the neighboring exhibit sat askew among the Pipers. "We rode it out, with people in our tent and in the mock-up trailer," Piper spokesman Randy Groom told AVweb on Friday. "It got very noisy in the tent, but everyone is safe. Some neighboring aircraft pulled out of their tie-downs and hit our airplanes." It all looks to be minor damage, he said. He was hoping to have the tent open for visitors by Friday afternoon, and everything back to normal by later in the day, or Saturday morning.
Tent Collapse Did Trap 70 at Sun 'n Fun By Russ Niles There were some scary moments for about 70 people, including nine former Women Air Service pilots in their 90s, when the storm that ripped through Sun 'n Fun on Thursday collapsed the tent structure in which a luncheon was being held in the WASPs' honor. The event was sponsored by the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum of Keystone Heights Airport in Florida. Bob Oehl, an executive volunteer with the museum, said he and others fought to keep the aluminum structure and tent supported while most of the attendees huddled under the tables. He said he called 911 as rain, hail and furious winds collapsed the structure around them. Initial reports of a building collapse trapping 70 people were refuted by Lakeland Police and Sun 'n Fun staff, possibly because the facility was not a permanent structure. "But it happened," said Oehl.
New "Super Legend" Cub Introduced By Mary Grady American Legend Aircraft Company said on Thursday it is adding a new model, the Super Legend, to its Legend Cub two-place sport aircraft line. The Super Legend comes with the Lycoming 233 Series lightweight engine, a Super Cub-style pressure cowling, and a classic Super Cub paint scheme. With a base weight of just about 845 pounds, the Super Legend's power-to-weight ratio rivals that of a 150 hp Super Cub, the company says. The Super Legend comes with a choice of avionics, including basic "low and slow," cross-country with night VFR, or the Smart Cub panel. The Lycoming engine, which is expected to be certified later this year, can fun on either 100LL or unleaded auto fuel. The intro price is $139,000, and first deliveries are expected early in 2012.
"Aviation Green" Event Cut Short By Storm By Mary Grady The Lindbergh Foundation's day-long series of forums about alternative fuels and cleaner aviation technology was under way Thursday in Sun 'n Fun's new Central Florida Aerospace Academy building when the storm hit. Everyone in the building was told to move into the hallways, away from doors and windows, as the wind whipped and rain poured. The electricity went off, and people were told not to leave the building because powerlines were down. The hallways filled with forum attendees and soaking-wet refugees from the weather outside. Some forum speakers continued on with their captive audience, using laptops to show their powerpoints, until volunteers came into the rooms again and herded everyone back into the hallways, anticipating a second assault of weather.
A strong storm front whipped through the Sun 'n Fun campus at about noon on Thursday, with heavy rains, hail, damaging winds, and possibly a tornado, wreaking extensive damage to airplanes and exhibits. After the brief storm passed, the site was strewn with knocked-over port-a-potties, fallen trees and branches, collapsed tents, wrecked airplanes, mud, and ankle-deep puddles. Many airplanes were turned over or smashed into tents or other airplanes, some with broken spars and extensive damage. "There was a lot of property damage," Lakeland police officer Terri Smith confirmed, "and a number of bumps and scrapes, but no serious injuries that we know of." Early reports that a building or hangar had collapsed and people were trapped inside were incorrect, she said. Those reports apparently originated from an erroneous report from the National Weather Service, according to CNN.
