Wind Storm of 2003

During mid-March, 2003, Anchorage, Alaska was hit by a wind storm that "was just unprecedented in its intensity, and it was sustained", Corky Caldwell, Anchorage International Airport Deputy Director of Operations.  The winds reported at ANC were sustained at over 110 MPH. 

It had been windy all afternoon, however, when I left class at 8pm the winds had intensified.  People leaving class had to fight the wind just to get to their cars.  Dust and debris was flying and you had to cover your eyes, nose, and mouth.  I headed straight to Merrill Field, where our Cessna 170 was tied down.  When I arrived, airplanes were bouncing into the air only to be pulled back to the ground by the ropes that tethered them to the earth.  Upon inspection later, the wings of these airplanes had been ripped off by the force of the tie-down rope going from slack to tight.  Someone had left a glider with its' wings on, and tied down similarly to an airplane... however, had left so much slack in the tie-down rope that the glider was in the air flying!

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