Even those with hangars dread the threat of an intense wind storm. Across from my hangar is a mere concrete slab where a hangar used to be until a surgical wind event shredded it and sent debris flying into neighboring hangars. The owner rebuilt in another location on the field.



On June 21, 2025, Category 2 hurricane force straight-line winds in excess of 100mph razed the town of Bemidji, MN, topping or completely dropping thousands of trees, peeling roofs, tipping signs, and unfortunately, flipping aircraft.

Erin and I were in the area today and it was insane. Never seen so many upheaved root balls or so much firewood stacked in my life.

This poor wagon was among the carnage.









Photo:Brian Shaw

It looks like that is the '59 180 that had been sitting there for years, but the paint looks better than I remember.

I did my tailwheel endorsement at Moberg's in 2016. That's the location of the wreck in the photos I think.

StillLearning wrote:It looks like that is the '59 180 that had been sitting there for years, but the paint looks better than I remember.

I did my tailwheel endorsement at Moberg's in 2016. That's the location of the wreck in the photos I think.

Good eye.

Zzzz,

Heck, wished I had known you were in the area. I toured the Bemidji area a couple days after the storm and it reminded me of when I lived in Florida and experienced several hurricanes. I then flew over the area and was amazed at the amount of devastation. I will mention that the amount of clean up that was done within a week was amazing. From my first view to the fly over view, a lot had been cleaned up.
Although I am south of Bemidji, I had several trees down and was without power for several days, my damage was nothing compared to that in Bemidji, which pretty much took a direct hit.

The flipped Skywagon belongs to a friend and sure was sad to see.

Stilllearning,
Have we met? I used to fly out of Mobergs a lot. I kept a Champ on floats there for a few years.

Keith, I was only in the area for 2 hours. We were running a tight schedule. Stopping by Moberg was a last minute idea. Next time!

The last picture is the slab across from Zane’s hangar. The others would be directly behind it. Circa 2014

Zzz wrote:...... Across from my hangar .....

Did you buy another airplane Zane?

hotrod180 wrote:

Zzz wrote:...... Across from my hangar .....

Did you buy another airplane Zane?

No. Not yet anyway.

A sickening sight to see, nuts

That’s a bad deal for sure!! I spent a winter up there on an Enbridge project, happen to be the same winter as the infamous “snowmageddon” in Texas, I remember it being 40 degrees warmer in Bemidji than back home. Northern Mn is a beautiful area!

In 1985 the wind blew the top off the county hangar at the Lexington OR airport. Our Cherokee 180 was parked in the hangar when it happened but was unscathed.

Good result. I bet you were pretty apprehensive walking up to the hangar. Similar event at Sechelt a few years ago ended up with a totalled Mooney.

daedaluscan wrote:Good result. I bet you had you were pretty apprehensive walking up to the hangar. Similar event at Sechelt a few years ago ended up with a totalled Mooney.

We lived just down the hill from the airport. I had been away for about a week. When I got home I could see the hangar's metal roof all wadded up down the hill a little. I asked my wife what had happened. She said the hangar roof had blown off. I asked her if the airplane was okay. She said she didn't know. Yes I was a little apprehensive while I walked up the hill and relieved when I got there to see the plane was just fine. There was 6 stalls in the hangar and all the other planes were gone. I don't remember if any were damaged.

We get a week or so of 100 mph winds a year….we just call it Alaska.

There is a cirrus there that actually broke its tie down straps and went flying on its own and I saw the security cam footage. I am going to go patch it up and fly it out of there in a couple weeks when the new prop shows up.