The violent monsoonal weather that hit the Chandler Municipal Airport earlier this month caused much damage to airplanes and structures. So much so that the cost of the damage is expected to reach well beyond $1 million.
Local CBS 5 affiliate KPHO reported that more than 40 airplanes were damaged and destroyed as they were tossed around like graduation caps in the severe winds, reported as a microburst, as part of a severe monsoon that hit the area on August 11. A local flight school, Chandler Air Service, was hit the hardest as seven of its 24 airplanes were destroyed and nine were damaged.
Chandler Air Service president John Walkup told KPHO the airplanes were “flipped up, cart-wheeled, turned over on the ground, slammed, picked up and turned back over again. We were just driving through carnage; one of our airplanes here, one of our airplanes there.” In addition, two three-ton metal doors on the Chandler Air Service hangar were damaged.
View the photo gallery of the damage here.
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