The Hangars Used To House The F-22s At Tyndall Air Force Base Were Not Sufficiently Hardened To Resist Hurricane Michael

An airman cleans off an F-22 at Tyndall after Hurricane Michael. Small holes are visible in the aircraft's tail. USAF

Warzone/The Drive: USAF Had Faulty Data About Whether Hangars Full of F-22s Could Survive Hurricane Michael

The service is trying to figure out why its assessments of how strong the buildings were got battered in the storm, too.

The U.S. Air Force continues to be coy about the extent of the damage to the approximately 17 F-22A Raptor stealth fighters that remained at Tyndall Air Force Base as it suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Michael. But the service has now revealed that the data it had about which hangars were sufficiently hardened against the force of the storm’s winds appears to have been inaccurate, which could have ramifications both for the work of reconstructing Tyndall and for other bases in hurricane- and typhoon-prone areas.

Aviation Week got the new information in an interview with U.S. Air Force General Mike Holmes, head of Air Combat Command (ACC), on the sidelines of the Airlift/Tanker Association Conference on Oct. 27, 2018. Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10, 2081, with the eye of the storm passing right over Tyndall, rendering the base virtually unusable and uninhabitable. The majority of the F-22s at the base relocated to Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to escape the storm, but not all of the Raptors could make it out in time.

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WNU Editor: So the data was wrong on how strong these hangars are when it comes to weather events like Hurricane Michael. That is what I call a costly mistake.