How Did Airports, Installations, Planes Fare Under Wilma?

Hurricane Wilma struck near Ft. Meyers and blasted across Florida today, passing out into the Atlantic near Hobe Sound in Palm Beach County. But our interest, as always, is in the aviation angle. We've heard there's a hangar down in Boca Raton with damage to the planes inside, and we've heard of planes damaged in other places.

Many flight schools flew their fleets out of the southern and eastern reaches of the state, to safer high ground in Georgia or up in the Panhandle, out of Wilma's worst effects. At Daytona Beach [KDAB], Embry-Riddle officials feared a reply of last year's various hurricane disasters and took precautions. Some of these officials were keenly conscious of the consequences of failure: they are the replacements for the heads that rolled last year over hail-damage to the training fleet.

But the storm was relatively mild in Daytona, with reports of heavy rain and winds of 25 knots gusting to 35.

It's hard to determine the state of Florida's many airports. Some low-lying areas flooded. Roads are blocked by fallen trees. Power is out in a wide swath of the state.  (As many as 6 million residential customers were without electricity; the power companies are now saying 3.2 million; thousands of utility workers are working to repair downed lines).

ANN did a LOT better this time around... we got jostled a bit, rained on and flooded some, and the power went out a few times, but we survived with very little damage... unlike last year. Whew....

There's a limit to the amount of electronic newsgathering we can do in the current situation. So we're putting out the call to our extended family of readers, please send us what you've got -- photos? Links to news sources? Do you have a story about your own hangar or plane?

Let us know...

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