Jabara Airport Closed For Several Hours Friday

A tornado that went through Wichita, KS destroyed a hangar at Col. James Jabara Airport, damaging six airplanes that were kept in the building.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the storm produced 100-mile-per-hour winds. The 15,000 square-foot hangar that was leveled belonged to Midwest Corporate Aviation. The company's main office also suffered damage to the roof in the storm.

The storm caused the airport to be closed for several hours while debris was cleared. The paper reports that it reopened about 1:00 p.m. Friday afternoon.

While Midwest Corporate did not elaborate on the aircraft that were in the hangar when it was destroyed, Keith Plumb, president and CEO of Executive AirShare, said that one was a Beechcraft Super King Air 350 that is owned by one of the company's fractional customers. Another that could be seen in the rubble appeared to be a newly-manufactured, unpainted King Air.

Textron confirmed that it keeps some airplanes at Jabara, according to the report. The company said in a statement that some of the airplanes stored temporarily at Jabara were "impacted by the storm damage."

No one at the airport was injured by the storm.

FMI: www.flywichita.org