Wind Gust Flips Airplane Onto Its Back

A Cessna 182, which had just been pre-flighted and untied in preparation for a skydiving mission at Mesquite Municipal airport ( 67L) in Nevada, was picked up by an unexpected wind vortex and dropped onto its back late last week.

File Photo

The amount of damage to the Cessna, which was being leased by Skydive Mesquite, was not known. Company owner Brad Jessey said the wind at the time was not more than 10 knots, conditions he thought were perfect for skydiving.

Jessey said the appearance of a dust devil on such a calm, cool morning is rare in the desert. "I personally have not seen anything like that," he told the Desert Valley Times of St. George, Utah.

Dust devils are small, rapidly-rotating columns of wind, made visible by the dust, dirt or debris they pick up. They usually occurs in arid or semi-arid areas and are most likely to develop on clear, dry, hot afternoons in response to surface heating. A witness to the accident told the paper that sometimes the wind vortices form when air heats up over the darker tarmac of the airport and interacts with the surrounding cooler air.

FMI: www.wrh.noaa.gov/fgz/science/dustdvl.php?wfo=fgz