Grand Rapids CAP members injured during local training mission

[N Harmon]

CAP members were seeking shelter in a hangar from a storm that developed quickly during a local training mission.  The storm tore the hangar from its foundation, resulting in minor injuries.  Thankfully there were NO fatalities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stZAUjAn9hM

[wuzafuzz]

That'll put a spot in your britches.

Glad the injuries were minor and everyone will be OK.

[Майор Хаткевич]

See, I clicked the link, half expecting the PAO for the mission to have recorded what happened on a smartphone...

[Eclipse]

ORM?  Safety Officer?  Weather Spotter?

Anyway, glad the members of the "Civil Air Service" are OK.

Stay tuned for guidance from NHQ on this.

[coudano]

Yah standby for "don't be in the wrong place at the wrong time" mandatory 1 hour safety briefing
if you don't comply by end of June, your membership will be suspended




Glad to hear they are going to be allright

[jks19714]

No doubt in the future we will be required to dig slit trenches prior to any activity.

Now you know what the entrenching tool in the field gear is for! 

[bosshawk]

Something to consider: a quote from the Rules of Rogers Rangers, 1776: "don't forget nothing".

Anybody from VN remember that card which we all had to carry?

[NIN]

ORM?  Safety Officer?  Weather Spotter?

Anyway, glad the members of the "Civil Air Service" are OK.

Stay tuned for guidance from NHQ on this.

Like "All activities held west of 70degrees West longitude and east of the Continental Divide will be held in a facility with a basement, or built to withstand a 100 year storm.."?

"CAP Planes hangared in this general geographic area will also be hangared in the basement."

BTW, reports indicate the CAP planes involved were unscathed.

[NIN]

ORM?  Safety Officer?  Weather Spotter?

BTW, word is it was a microburst or straight-line winds.

So, yeah, once we make folks sit thru Skywarn and the NHQ-approved, NWS-produced "Microburst Awareness Death By Powerpoint," and have achieved 100% unit compliance (as tracked in eServices, and as reminded to you each time you log in, in a way that will prohibit you from doing anything useful until you click thru the reminder dialogs of this, and this month's "Paper Cuts And You: Why The Paperless Office is The Way Forward For Safety!" presentation), I'm sure the safety folks will be all over that.

[Major Lord]

Seventeen Staples in his head? Sounds like that is gonna leave a mark......

Major Lord

[wuzafuzz]

"...Paper Cuts And You: Why The Paperless Office is The Way Forward For Safety!" presentation...

ROFLMAO   :clap: :clap: :clap:

[RADIOMAN015]

CAP members were seeking shelter in a hangar from a storm that developed quickly during a local training mission.  The storm tore the hangar from its foundation, resulting in minor injuries.  Thankfully there were NO fatalities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stZAUjAn9hM

Sounds to me at least in the interview that the doors were not closed to the hanger before the wind came up and apparently they tried to close during the storm.   At least in the AF there's very specific guidance on closing hanger doors, especially in the case of expected windy weather conditions.

It's very fortunate that no one was killed.

I'm sure this will keep the safety people busy for awhile and guidance will be forthcoming.
RM

[RiverAux]

While I love taking a dig at CAP safety policies just as much as the next guy there may actually be something useful to learn here. 

[davidsinn]

While I love taking a dig at CAP safety policies just as much as the next guy there may actually be something useful to learn here.

That the weather in the Midwest can change on a butterfly fart? Breaking news: water is wet.

[RiverAux]

Well, its hard to guess without having a lot more information about the incident what we can learn from it.  Though mostly it probably would serve as a way of judging how well current policies and procedures are being implemented. 

[jks19714]

CAP members were seeking shelter in a hangar from a storm that developed quickly during a local training mission.  The storm tore the hangar from its foundation, resulting in minor injuries.  Thankfully there were NO fatalities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stZAUjAn9hM

Sounds to me at least in the interview that the doors were not closed to the hanger before the wind came up and apparently they tried to close during the storm.   At least in the AF there's very specific guidance on closing hanger doors, especially in the case of expected windy weather conditions.

It's very fortunate that no one was killed.

I'm sure this will keep the safety people busy for awhile and guidance will be forthcoming.
RM

Can you give me a clue on where to find the USAF guidance on this?  I looked through some of AFOSH standards without luck.  This sounds like a good monthly safety topic!

[NIN]

That the weather in the Midwest can change on a butterfly fart? Breaking news: water is wet.

^^ this.

I spent many of my CAP years, especially my formative ones, in Michigan Wing.  While I don't specifically recall ever having a spot in my OPORDs for "weather spotter assignment" or "actions on microburst, straight line winds, hail in July or flaming monkeys falling from the sky..", we were still cognizant that weather was one of our all time foes in the midwest. Its a fact of life.

Can you predict a straight-line wind or microburst event? Maybe.  Crikey, I doubt there is much you can do about these kinds of things except deal with them as they arise.  Look at what happened at Sun & Fun this year.  Who the heck would expect that what basically appeared as a front-passage at an airshow would turn into a weather event that destroyed multiple aircraft?

Do you pay attention to weather reports? Sure.   Might you catch a weather update (ie. like an NWS severe weather alert?)? Maybe not, unless you have a guy assigned to maintain a watch on the radio.

[Eclipse]

One word.

Weatherbug Elite.

It is available for both smartphones and the iPhone.

[NIN]

One word.

Weatherbug Elite.

It is available for both smartphones and the iPhone.

Thats actually two words, and quite frankly, anything that says "WeatherBug" says "Nearly a virus disguised as a legitimate piece of software" (as I rip out yet more instances of crapware installed on PCs by users who decided that WeatherBug was "cute").

Maybe its gotten better since I last used it, but its rep in my experience is so poor that I wouldn't install it on my phone.

[Al Sayre]

You can sign up for severe weather text alerts from NWS here:  http://inws.wrh.noaa.gov/