Dozens Of Aircraft Damaged Or Destroyed By Sudden Violent WX

Sudden and severe weather has apparently hit a well-known GA airport in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Ottawa/Rockcliffe Airport (CYRO) is a non-towered former military base located close to the South shore of the Ottawa River, and a short ways NE of downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The airport is the home of the Canada Aviation Museum (the owner of the facility) and is also the home of the Rockcliffe Flying Club. ANN reader Alex Rudy, who calls Rockcliffe his home-drome, reports that it is also the oldest continuously operating airport in Canada having been an airport since 1918.

Sunday, the airport was hit by heavy winds and downburst that uprooted a number of stored and tied-down aircraft, creating extensive damage to dozens of aircraft. Rudy bemoans the fate of a Cherokee Six that 'must have been thrown over top of the green and white 172, taking off its tail, before it came to rest up against a blue and white 172."

Rudy adds that, "GWZA and GPHV are Rockcliffe Flying Club airplanes (that accounts for about 1/4 of the fleet). The remainder are privately owned aircraft. A pile of debris (shown in one of the pics), in front of a van, used to be a Challenger." In other words, it's a mess.

Rudy reports that no nobody was injured in this storm (that he is aware of), but that he believes what hit them was a "microburst... I live near the airport and watched the storm blow in very suddenly. Powerlines are down, houses are damaged, and of course the airport. Our club house was damaged as well."

Information posted to the flying club's web site confirms one as potentially totaled and another down for at least a month.

Local news reports state that weather had been good preceding the event, but that around 1900 local time, thunderstorms with "torrential precipitation and wind gusts of 90 kilometers per hour" hit the area. Other damage was considerable, with roofs ripped off homes, persons trapped in vehicles due to downed trees, and massive power outages.

Injuries were reported, some requiring hospitalization. The sudden storm was also blamed for power outages across the southern part of the province while Toronto's Pearson International Airport reported wind velocities as high as 115 kph at 1700, which has been reported as the strongest recorded gust in the last 30 years.

[ANN thanks Alex Rudy for the pics and the updates...]

FMI: www.rfc.ca, www.warmuseum.ca