20 April 2023
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Multiple private planes were damaged by high winds at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City Thursday morning.
Airport spokesperson Joe McBride said no injuries were reported, but about 10 planes were damaged.
“Aircraft wings are built aerodynamically for lift. So if you have heavy winds like we had early this morning around 5 a.m. or so, that wind gets underneath those aircrafts and it lifts them up and tosses them around,” McBride said.
The National Weather Service reported 32 mph wind speeds at the downtown airport between 5:55 a.m. and 6 a.m. Thursday morning. NWS said multiple planes were flipped by high wind speeds, recording wind gusts up to 45 mph.
McBride said normally the planes would have been parked inside, but were left outdoors due to a planned event at the Signature Flight support building. Airport crews are working to remove fuel from the planes and clear the remaining debris.