Japan's Sendai Airport largely destroyed by tsunami

Run_to_da_hills

I saw footage of this on several news channels but didn't see any planes.

Just wondering did they all get away?

http://www.ausbt.com.au/sendai-airport-hit-by-tsunami-triggered-by-japan-earthquake

seamus

I doubt they all got away, there were probably a number of aircraft that weren't capable of flying when the tsunami hit (under repairs, no fuel, etc). I imagine all they could do (if they had time) is to push them into a hangar, close the doors and hope that keeps out teh bulk of the deluge.
They were probably more concerned for their own safety though rather than the well-being of a few hunks of insured metal

996tt

seamus wrote: »

I doubt they all got away, there were probably a number of aircraft that weren't capable of flying when the tsunami hit (under repairs, no fuel, etc). I imagine all they could do (if they had time) is to push them into a hangar, close the doors and hope that keeps out teh bulk of the deluge.
They were probably more concerned for their own safety though rather than the well-being of a few hunks of insured metal

Id imagine any airport only has hangar capacity for a very small % of the aircraft at the airport at the time

Tabnabs

Read on Twitter that aircraft inbound for Tokyo are being diverted to Anchorage.

helimachoptor

Tabnabs wrote: »

Read on Twitter that aircraft inbound for Tokyo are being diverted to Anchorage.

Surely if they are coming from the Europe direction that doesnt make sense, its adding quite a distance onto their journey?

Storm 10

Saw that footage as well and the same thing crossed my mind, they must have flown as many as possibe out as I understand that is a pretty big airport so there would have been planes on the ramp.

Hogzy

Tabnabs wrote: »

Read on Twitter that aircraft inbound for Tokyo are being diverted to Anchorage.

Wouldnt Seoul be a better and closer destination?

CaptainSkidmark

CaptainSkidmark

Airport n the right

Storm 10

Unreal pics just shows you the power of the water, looks like they got all aircraft out before it struck.

Quaderno

Storm 10 wrote: »

Unreal pics just shows you the power of the water, looks like they got all aircraft out before it struck.

Yes, unreal. They may have managed to get the airliners out in time, but some smaller planes weren't as lucky according to this pic:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2011/03/11/3162165.htm

Hogzy

The helicopter that took those pics probably took off from the airport.

ian_m

Before


After

IrishB.ie

Slight sidetrack, but some of these fighter jets didn't make out on time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBGFwu9G4UA

lord lucan

IrishB.ie wrote: »

Slight sidetrack, but some of these fighter jets didn't make out on time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBGFwu9G4UA

Think this is the vid you mean.;)

Quaderno

Not where this picture has been taken.

Overheal

How much lead time did aircraft have to scramble?

I would have expected to see a lot more aircraft grounded. Or is it that those airports dont try to park too many airplanes because of being on the shoreline?

Tenger

Overheal wrote: »

How much lead time did aircraft have to scramble?

I would have expected to see a lot more aircraft grounded. Or is it that those airports dont try to park too many airplanes because of being on the shoreline?

Looking at the timeline they had just over an hour warning. I would hazard that they 'scrambled' any civilian aircraft on the ramp, stopped any inbounds and all pax remained in the elevated portions of the terminal building. On airliners.net, using the timetable, posters estimate that there should have been 3-4 aircraft on the ground. So they must have got them out.

Heres the timeline a posted on a.net:
"From various media and wikipedia reports:

14:46 local time - first major quake hits
14:48 - general tsunami warning
15:06 - 7.0 aftershock
15:15 - 7.4 aftershock
15:20 - 7.2 aftershock
15:40 - specific tsunami warning for Sendai
15:55 - tsunami over tops the sea coast berm and floods the Sendai airport."

Youtube video taken as the tsunami hits the airport:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_6iDBoOvb0

Also heres some pics taken of the airbase in Miyaki Prefecture which was hit by the tsunami:
http://www.kaskus.us/showthread.php?p=384466770

While I agree that Japan is probably the most prepared country in the World for this sort of event it doesn't lessen the shock and distress experienced by the people affected directly by this natural disaster.

Storm 10

Video here of the Air Base and F18s damaged

Link: http://www.key.aero/view_news.asp?ID=2973&thisSection=military

Foggy43

Tabnabs wrote: »

Read on Twitter that aircraft inbound for Tokyo are being diverted to Anchorage.

helimachoptor wrote: »

Surely if they are coming from the Europe direction that doesnt make sense, its adding quite a distance onto their journey?

BA5 and BA7 Heathrow Tokyo fly over the North Pole and down the othe side. Anchorage isn't that much of a diversion.

CaptainSkidmark

they said on the news all the airliners had taken off on time and there had been none there at the time. I would say it was lucky but to be fair there is nothing lucky about any of it.