When I arrived at the Cessna 170, I noticed that the wind was causing it to strain against its tie-down ropes. I positioned my Jeep in such a way as to block the harsh wind. When I opened the Jeep door, it nearly broke in a forward direction. Fighting against the wind to stay standing, I lashed the tie-down ropes over the wing strut to help hold the aircraft firmly to the earth. While doing so, I was holding onto the strut and it was lifting me off the ground. I was at the time, a solid 235 pounds. I returned to my Jeep and waited. It rocked back and forth as if I were out in the ocean. Rocks, trash, and various other debris slammed against the Jeep... a couple hard enough to put minor cracks in the windshield, and scratch the paint. It was interesting seeing other people doing the same thing I had just been doing, trying to fight Mother Nature to save their airplanes. Some were winning like me, thanks to prior preparation in securing the aircraft when landing a week before. Some had already lost before they arrived, only to find their once beautiful aircraft now broken. Others were driving around the airport just to bare witness to the dramatic events that were unfolding before us all.
I had been calling my Father, and leaving messages on his cell phone, since leaving class. He finally called me back and said that he had just landed, and would drive over to Merrill to meet me and help with the airplane. When he arrived, he parked his truck in such a way as to help protect the Cessna from a different direction. I jumped into his truck and he related to me the story of his recent landing in this fierce wind. He was flying in to Anchorage International on a Boeing 747-400, acting as the First Officer. When they started the descent, and had the option of going to Fairbanks, the wind was strong but manageable. By the time they had descended to the point where fuel reserves would not allow Fairbanks as an alternate, the wind had picked up and was shifting directions. By the time they were on final approach, and their only alternate was Elmendorf Airforce base, the wind was over 100 knots and shifting in such a way as they would get stall warnings and over speed (for approach) warnings with in seconds of each other, and this on top of wind shear warnings. It is the only time I have heard my Dad say that he was really nervous about a landing. Hearing that made me think, considering it was from a guy who has landed with partial gear up (due to a mechanical malfunction), engines out, instruments malfunctioning, and general pucker factor stuff that would make most people quit flying. It is hard to think of an airplane the size of a 747-400 even making it into the air to begin with. It is a six story tall airplane, the horizontal stabilizers (the wings on the tail) are the same size as the main wings on a 737, each of the four engines is capable of producing 60,000 pounds of thrust for a total of 240,000 pounds of thrust, each of its many fuel tanks holds more fuel than most swimming pools hold water, one of its landing gear weighs more than the first airplane I soloed, there are stories of guys playing football inside of an empty 747... I take it you get what I am talking about. It is an amazing piece of human engineering. So, like I say, it is amazing that this airplane can fly... it is even more amazing that it could land in these conditions. I have a feeling that the folks at Boeing never tried or thought to try doing what the crew on this 747 DID. After they landed, the airport closed, the tower was abandoned, and thousands of travelers were left watching and waiting.
I shot four or five rolls of film the following day. I only have a couple of the many good shots here on the website. I will probably add more when I get around to printing them. Two are of a Cessna 185 that was not tied down, it became airborne, and came to rest on top of this Helio Courier. One is of a Chevy truck being used to help keep an airplane that was not tied down from becoming airborne and impacting another object... like its neighboring airplane. Luckily, all that happened was that it flipped over. I thought the image was funny because it looks like the guy is trying to move or tow his airplane. I am sure the owner was not amused. I cannot count the number of small, especially wooden, airplanes that had their wings broken thanks to them fighting their tie-down ropes. Numerous other damages occurred, such as debris going through fabric covered airplanes, impact damage on Plexiglas, one was even missing its' canopy.
In the end, the fiercest part of the windstorm lasted about four hours... that is, with winds over 100 MPH (and have heard that gusts were up to 130-140 MPH, while the recorded sustained were 110 MPH). The strong winds lasted for a couple of days. The winds impacted the entire city, neighboring areas, and the Mat-Su Valley. The tower at Anchorage International was closed for nine hours. When I finally arrived home, I found pieces of roofing insulation all over the streets which came from the towers down town when their roofs blew off. It took the city a few days to recover.