Video of an EF-1 Tornado moving through the Fairfield County Airport on 5/4/2021
On May 4th, 2021 from approximately 4:23pm to 4:29pm, an EF1 tornado went through Rion, SC, passing over the Fairfield County Airport and flipping a tied-down airplane.
At 1:30, you can see the initial gust front cross the runway, stranding a pilot taxiing their airplane. Someone coming to help decides to grab their truck to retrieve him but struggles to fight the winds.
At 3:43, as the two are waiting for the rain to die down so they can tie down the airplane, the winds suddenly pick up. Seconds later, you can see the swirling winds of the tornado pick up the tied down airplanes and loft one 100 yards into a field between runways. The plane that the pilot was in was briefly lifted from the ground. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.
Finally, at 4:28 transformers begin to blow out on the horizon. The tornado passed by in less than 15 seconds but left an airplane totaled and a hanger damaged with a portion of two external walls pushed outward.
Thank you to Fairfield County for providing this security footage.
#SCwx #weather #southcarolina #severeweather #tornadoes #wind #thunderstorms
the guy who ran out there to help then got the truck to help the pilot deserves mega kudos.
This was our beloved Beechcraft Sundowner. RIP.
I'm so sorry. It was a great video to watch. I shared it with people to explain about storm light.
That sucks. Was it tied down / did the tie down straps break?
That's why we use chains to tie down in Arizona.
@Logan Steed good grief 😳 I noticed in the video one plane moving around, at first I thought it was going to be that one that took off, just glad it was a plane with nobody in it… Still sorry it had to be yours though!
I’m so sorry about your plane. You should see the damage it did to our home. It seems that we were hit the worst 😞
I did not see that guy get out of the Piper so I assume he get's to log a touch and go landing at 4:00.
And the Baron sitting stoically throughout the entire fiasco was like "Wind? What wind?"
Thanks for uploading!!
Wow...Thank God you two are ok!!! That's an life experience I never care to have! Glad you guys are safe!
Thanks I wished they called it what it was that being a microburst
3:50 that was one hell of a touch and go for the Piper guy
I'm surprised the plane in the front row that snapped the tiedown survived as well as it did.
Amazing video that plans that flew in the air was thinking I believe I can fly. But what I want to know is who the hell tied the front aircraft down they must have put a lot of strength to secure them ones keep up great work.
Pilot in the plane, "elevator down! elevator down!". That had to be a scary moment, especially right after an anchored plane was thrown over your head.
Wow! Two questions: I'm not sure if this airport has a control tower, but would the pilot of the plane that landed just before the storm arrived have been advised of the tornado warning? Would an NWS tornado warning have triggered an alert in the cockpit?
I’d love to know too! It hit our house right after this & caused extensive damage. My husband got us to our safe room within seconds of it hitting! We never once received a warning!! I called WIS TV that evening & they still had no reports of one. It wasn’t until a rep from the National Weather Service stopped by our house 2 days later to confirm it.
So to answer in order: That particular airport does not have a control tower. The pilot did not recently land, he was running the plane for a maintenance procedure. There are no specific warning systems for tornados. This weather phenomenon is actually a microburst(which are far less predictable than tornados). Source: I'm a pilot that works at this airport.
@@briansteed5427 Thank you Brian! Very helpful information! 👍👍
@@briansteed5427 I saw some circulation there, not to mention, left to right power flashes, indicating a moving storm. We'll never know for sure, but the one commenter did say he was notified that it was a tornado.
@@mkp3824 Guess you'd had to be there to see it.
3:40 Well that escalated quickly.
Plane was completely tossed as if it were a toy. Glad nobody was in it when it was thrown.
it wasn’t a strong one but the dynamics of the plane made it liftoff more
And that was only an EF1! Imagine what a 3, 4, or 5 would've done!
If you want an example of high-end EF-3 damage at an airport, look up the recent Nashville tornado. It directly hit John C. Tune airport, destroying a huge portion of the aircraft and hangars there.
An E-F5 would have turned those planes into a fine haze of aluminum particles.
'Terminal Air'. Perfect description of a tornado right there!😬
4:27 PowerFlash
Some of the people on here are assuming alot of stuff.
4:30 power flash
4:27
I don't want to purchase a tornado