Today was one of those days that started O.K. and went from bad to worse. I flew my Clipper over to the airport where our glider club is so I could do some soaring. I went about 5 miles west of the airport and was getting some good lift for about an hour when a small shower started just to the north of the airport moving south. No big deal. It was a small shower and I waited for it to pass by the airport. Another one developed to the North and they kept coming in a long line getting worse and spitting out lighning. I moved further away to the west and was fine getting good lift up to cloud base at 7,200', but the storms kept coming for the next two hours. When it started to look like a break I would head towards the airport and would get the crap beat out of me by the turbulance and turn back. I called the airport and they said they had major weather and the radar was just getting worse. When I started seeing lightning to the north and south of me instead of just to the east I put in full dive breaks from 7,000' and landed at a Navy base. They only use this base for carrier qualifications about once a month so there was just one MP there to meet me. We called the air ops branch and were told that we need to fill out a bunch of paperwork to land the towplane there to get the glider out and the C.O. won't be in until Tuesday to approve it.
Going from bad to worse again I found out that my Clipper got free and blew into the woods and was in 3' of water. We pulled it out and it is less two wing tips, one aileron, one elevator half, and has a crushed rear fusalage stringer. Probably has $6-8K in damage and will be down for months. The same storm broke the tiedown ring off of a 172 and it is upside down on the Citabria parked next to it and it ripped half of the roof off of the glider club trailer. What a day. Time to fill out some ASRS forms to keep me out of trouble in case the FAA asks why I had to land at a Navy base and review the Clipper insurance policy. Then maybe a few beers. Brian Kraut Engineering Alternatives, Inc. www.engalt.com
