Leesburg Airport (JYO, in Virginia) was hit by a very brief but incredibly intense thunderstorm on a recent Saturday afternoon, shortly after 3pm. There was unfortunately much damage.

I had planned a sightseeing flight with a friend, named Thao, for her very first ride in a small plane. I'd been watching two lines of schmutz on the satellite photos moving in from the midwest; the first had sprayed us the previous day, the next was due Saturday night, tonight. DUATS area forecasts confirmed something's coming in later. But the day seemed ripe, and I took the chance that we would either have a window of an hour or two to circle the practice area, or that I'd show her the planes on the ground and we'd wander off into Saturday night. One last DUATS TAF check from home expects "VRB13G26KT 2SM TSRA OVC015CB" at right about our flight time. Well, dang.

We arrive 2:45pm, do a final check with FSS (on the field). She says the magic words "VFR not recommended". The bad stuff is very slow moving, but is moving in. At the dispatch desk, I ask for the keys anyway so I can show Thao the plane we were going to take (N64937, a Cessna 172). We start the long walk to the tiedown, and a gorgeous Piper Cub rolls on past us. "They're not going to take off!? Are they trying to dodge the muck by flying south or east? (They're headed for the maintenance hangar for shelter, I find out later. Good thing!)

Looking west into the sky, I ask Thao, "did you ever see the movie 'Independence Day' where the huge mothership floats in to cover the city?" We climb into N64937, I start to explain the panel, and flip on the radios. This leaseback plane has recently come into the fleet, and has immediately become my favorite. Tight and smooth at the same time. It has no built-in Loran or GPS (I have a handheld), but it does have an autopilot, a TCAD collision avoidance system, and some kind of stormscope. Cool, great chance to try it out. Switching it on for the first time, I see green blobs of stuff behind us. AND in front of us! I look up and we are now under the clouds. Does the AWOS pick it up? A little lag, but it starts to respond with lower ceiling reports.

"Hey", says Thao, "is it starting to rain?". We get out to see dark sky and a baby line of rain paralleling the runway, coming at us from about 1000 feet away. "Woah, I give it 20 seconds, let's hurry". Jogging back to the terminal, it's only 5 seconds before the rain line is on us. Damn! I then see a NASTY wall o'rain following the first. We run. We're only halfway to shelter when we get doused. Safe inside, we settle, turn around, and now can't see the planes on the ramp right in front of the terminal! THEN...it starts to get BAD. Everyone's lined up at the windows, I'm pressed up against the glass, shielding my eyes from the interior light reflection. It's darker outside than in. Now I can see a Cessna tied down about 50 feet away, rocking and tugging and kicking with the wind like a heaving sailboat. Sometimes I can't see it at all through the sheets of driving rain. I feel the window start to flex, and Justin, a CFI says "Everybody away from the windows!". As I pass the FBO counter, I glance at the windspeed display: 32kts, Gusting to 51. Yeah, I think I'll go into the back office for a wee bit.

Five minutes later, Jeff (another CFI) comes back looking for the Chief Flight Instructor. Heavy rain still pouring down, but apparently he decided to make a run to the flightline. Planes are damaged. I grab the camera I had stashed for the sightseeing trip and head out into the last of the rain. I can see that the windsock midfield is quite shredded, wet and flopping heavily. The flagpole is trailing something too, all torn and wet, stuck to the pole.

Walking out to the flightline, we see that a Piper is no longer shiny side up. A low wing turned into a high wing. Broke its tiedowns and sailed through the air, smashing a C172 parked adjacent, did a head tuck and flipped itself tail over nose cone, splat on its back. Roof crunched, but not crushed. Swirly rainbow pattern on the blacktop. Fuel. (Oh THAT'S why they called the fire department.) Then I think...which 172 was that again? Funny you should ask. N64937...the same plane we were sitting in 10 minutes before! Still tied, but with only the pilot's side line still attached, it had pivoted on that rope and was now facing the opposite direction. The windshield was gone, just jaggy chunks of plexi left around the edges. The back window had a big jagged hole in it as well. The left wingtip had been smacked hard, apparently buckling up over the cabin and causing the windshield to shatter. Most impressive. Ever wonder what a big bird strike would look like from inside the cockpit?

There was also a C152 next to the maintenance hangar with its engine pulled. It, too, was on its back, one wing curled up like a cheesy poof. Inside, all the junk kept in "Baggage Area #2" (cleaning stuff, etc.) was now on the upturned ceiling above, uh, below, the pilot's seat.

Other than the (presumably) totaled aircraft, Justin noticed something on an apparently undamaged plane. The flaps were flush with the wing, okay. The aileron was flush with the wing, okay...but the OTHER aileron was deflected down 3 inches! Oh, lots of planes had this type of damage, including N96178, the plane I soloed in two summers ago (sob). Now what happens? What a huge job just inspecting planes for this kind of stressed metal damage!

What I'm thinking now is...
So THAT'S how bad the weather is when it flips airplanes!

I left a short while after, having run out of film, and having a guest who had quite a different adventure than the one we planned for. There were reports of 66kt gusts by the time it was all done. Thao is still anxious to get one of these planes in the air on purpose. Well, we'll try again...on a slightly calmer day!