KansasMike

Last night, a violent thunderstorm with 92 mph winds and baseball-sized hail struck the Omaha airport. Yet, there were aircraft with passengers on board both at the terminal and taxiing. One SWA pilot was injured.

In many ways, this is similar to the fiasco at STL April 22 when a tornado struck the airport with people on board planes.

The root problem is that the tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings are not part of the aviation data stream and both the F.A.A. and the airlines seem fine with this dangerous omission.

If you would like more information, it is here: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspo...-warnings.html

VelvetJones

I'm curious as to what excuse the airlines and the FAA have for such reckless behavior. I can think of one situation where this might be unavoidable, and that is if there are too many planes and not enough gates available. In a quickly developing situation evacuating the plane might not be possible or would be more dangerous then leaving the people on board. But in all other cases it appears to be reckless and extremely negligent. At least forward the tornado warnings directly to the pilots so they can be aware of the conditions.

realjd

The airplane isn't going to blow away, even in 100 mile an hour winds. Notice that the only injury was to one of the pilots who was standing by the open door and got hit in the face by hail? The planes may have been damaged but the passengers were just fine.

Now if it had been a tornado instead of a severe t-storm, would it have been different? It probably depends on the size of the tornado. Personally, I think I'd probably rather be in the plane than stuck in the jetway trying to evacuate when a tornado hit, or in a terminal with big glass windows.

jiejie

Clearly somebody who hasn't faced down a tornado before. You definitely want to be inside a fixed structure of size. The terminal will at least have plenty of closets and bathrooms, bulkhead walls, and counters to hide in and behind. I certainly wouldn't want to be stuck in a plane or a jetway--a tornado of enough size is certainly capable of pushing around and possibly flipping regional aircraft and an F3-F5 could mess up a larger jet and its contents as well. (hint: winds in many tornadoes are a heck of a lot higher than 100 mph).

Had a huge impromptu thunderstorm come through JAN yesterday, right over the airport which is pretty close to my home. No tornadoes, but so bad that I looked at the sky while driving to the grocery, turned around and went home immediately to hide. Being from the South, I usually am pretty blase about summer thunderstorms but this sky looked apocalyptic. Sustained winds up to 70+ miles per hour and horizontal rain and tons of lightning strikes. Any weather service that didn't feed into the pilots' warning system to give plenty of notice to stay the h-ll away for that 2 hour period, was definitely not doing its job. I would not have wanted to be in a plane (the airport apparently wasn't temporarily shut...I was aghast).

InkUnderNails

Remind me to avoid Omaha. Terminal shutdowns due to science projects and homemade fireworks, but loading up a plane with an impending severe thunderstorm in the Great Plains?

Amazing!

Boggie Dog

Another way to think about it: The airplane is built to withstand some pretty rigorous stresses. Is the terminal building built to withstand these same kinds of stress?

Stay in the plane it's safer there!

RichardKenner

Agreed! Airplanes always face 400-500 mph winds; terminal buildings never do.

mre5765

When I am in plane that is flying and the wind is blowing the plane is shaken up, down, left, right and some times forward and backward. This is called turbulence. Indeed a plane is designed to withstand this stress, and the way it withstands it is by giving in to the wind.

When it is on the ground, why do you think a plane will be not be physically moved by strong winds? Won't a tornado that sends a grounded plane aloft damage the plane and its occupants?

Whereas, a tornado shelter is designed to be rigid and stay where it is when the wind blows so that the people within it do not move and so aren't injured.

http://yfrog.com/gz68513206j

Boggie Dog

If you know you can reach a tornado shelter before the storm then do so. Being in a typical air terminal with all of the glass often found would be less safe than in the aircraft in my opinion.

VelvetJones

Apples and oranges. The plane is designed to withstand stress in an free floating environment with no physical interaction other than the wind itself. What do you think happens on the ground when there is a 100+ mph storm passing through? Do you think that flying debris will just bounce off of the skin of a jet? What about when the plane get flipped over? Might not happen to a 747, but I wouldn't rule it out in a RJ. I agree you should stay put if it is dangerous to exit, but if there is enough lead time then it is better to evacuate rather than worrying about keeping schedules.

javabytes

The airliner is aerodynamically engineered and is built to withstand rigorous stresses when flying in the direction it is intended to. To say because it is designed to fly at 550mph it won't get tossed about like a ragdoll and broken up by a 200-300mph tornado is nuts.

Boggie Dog

You are certainly free to believe and act on those beliefs should the occassion arise.

Video from the after effects at St. Louis of the terminal.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jodijill/vid...as-tornado-mgm

YVR Cockroach

IF Climate change is a realit, these incidents will only get more frequent.

KansasMike

Earlier this summer, outdoor stages collapsed during thunderstorms in El Reno and Tulsa, OK, and in Ottawa, ON. There were no fatalities.

This past Saturday night, the stage collapsed in IND killing 6. Yesterday, a stage collapsed in Belgium, killing 5. Thunderstorms were also involved in those stage collapses.

This airlines not paying attention to violent thunderstorms at OMA (yesterday) and STL (April 22) is starting to have the same type of feel as the stage collapses. I fear we may be running out of time.

If you would like to read more about the STL event, go to my blog:

http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspo...-aviation.html

-- and --

http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspo...adoes-and.html

The airlines and the FAA need to fix this before something tragic occurs.

Mike

gailwynand

Most airports in areas prone to tornadoes have designated tornado shelter areas.