Special Edition- Hurricane Helene

A look at the effect of Helene on North Carolina Aviation Museums.

In the late evening of September 26, 2024, Helene hit the Big Bend area of Florida as a Cat 4 hurricane. As the huge storm tracked Northwest over Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, and into North Carolina, the winds lowered to a tropical storm category, but it was still causing massive destruction. The fast-moving storm left a large swath of damage and, reaching the southern Appalachians in North Carolina, it caused some of the worst destruction. As of this posting (10/05/2024), there are still many people missing, mostly in North Carolina. With power still out and transportation infrastructure widely destroyed, the recovery is just beginning and will take a long time. The area is mountainous and the major highway through the area, Interstate 40, with its numerous bridges and tunnels, is expected to be impassible in this area for at least a year.

Although the status of aviation museums is low down on the priority list for concern, many of  the people who work in the museums, mostly volunteers, have been affected. In addition, most aviation museums are located on airports and some of those airports are involved in supporting rescue and supply.

First the good news. Most museums in North Carolina were not seriously affected. Here on the Outer Banks, an area often damaged by hurricanes, we were spared, and The Wright Brothers Memorial and The Dare County Airport Museum were not affected (ironically, First Flight Airport had a fatal accident last weekend, unrelated to the hurricane).  Havelock Visitor Center(Cherry Point), North Carolina Air Museum in Asheboro, and Sullenberger Aviation Museum in Charlotte all reported just minor damage. I also checked with The Tennessee Museum of Aviation in Sevierville, and the Mighty Eighth Museum in Savannah, GA, because the storm did go through those areas. Fortunately, they also escaped serious damage.

This brings us to Western North Carolina Air Museum in Hendersonville. Located near Asheville, it is in one of the hardest hit locations. Not surprisingly, I was not able to contact anyone at the museum. They have, however, made a short post to Facebook and I was able to grab these screenshots.

The brief post noted that all the aircraft in the collection had been damaged and the museum is probably a total loss. I understand that there is much work to be done in the larger community, but The Museum is too important to lose. As time goes on, I will bring you more information about the museum and, hopefully, information about restoration of these historic planes. Here is the 2022 blog about this museum. https://aviationhistorymuseums.com/blog/2022/3/18/the-western-north-carolina-air-museum-hendersonville-nc

The final North Carolina aviation museum to discuss is Hickory. Hickory sits right on the eastern edge of Helene’s track, and the town and airport suffered minimal damage. The section of I-40 in Hickory was the first part to re-open and Hickory Airport, and the Museum, quickly became a designated relief support facility. I received this information from Bill Baker of the museum. Except where noted, all photos courtesy of Hickory Museum President Jeff Wofford.

“Hickory Regional Airport is one of three FBOs providing support for victims of TS Helene. Over the last few days, the airport has been averaging several hundred sorties/day and yesterday it was reported that number was over 400. The civilian helicopter/airplane owners and pilots have really stepped up to provide much needed relief to those in dire need.

Hickory Aviation Museum is helping out at Hickory Regional Airport (HKY). Extra phone lines have been run into the museum for a makeshift call center to field calls for relief flights. Our volunteers are taking shifts to assist the call center operators as needed, and to safeguard the museum collection. The entire terminal building where we are located is wall to wall with people coordinating and stockpiling relief supplies and a medical treatment area has also been temporarily constructed to assist as needed.

As a reminder the museum is closed as is the aircraft display area. The airfield is secured to all aviation traffic except those permitted to enter directly assisting in disaster relief efforts. The main entry is manned 24/7 by Police controlling access, so please DO NOT attempt to enter the property to look around or drop off donations, there are many venues set up around Hickory, the main one being Hickory Motor Speedway.

Photo: Kyle Kirby, Co-Founder of Hickory Museum

With I-40 reopening yesterday, more and more car traffic and survivors are coming into Hickory as several of the larger towns north and west of the city are just not fully functional as of yet in terms of power, internet, etc. and their supplies in stores are very low. The people and businesses of Hickory are stepping up despite not being fully functional as well, there are still power outages around the City.”

On Thursday, Bill added this information-

“Ivanka Trump flew in yesterday to drop off Starlink components. Musk and Starlink have stepped up supplying what is needed for internet access and not charging at least for the next month or so. As far as donations go, I haven't heard of the Museum having any specific, but the usual like the Red Cross and Samaritan's Purse (Billy Graham Ministries) have been active from the jump. What I think is unfortunate is the amount of private pilots flying supplies and relief in their helos/planes and paying for their own fuel. So far there has been no government help here. People can also contact the FBO at Hickory and donate for fuel expenses.”

How to help? For now, Samaritan’s Purse and The Red Cross are the easiest. If you are a plane owner and would like to get directly involved, AOPA has posted information on how to volunteer-  https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2024/october/03/ga-steps-up-to-provide-relief-in-helene-aftermath?utm_source=epilot&utm_medium=email

Robert Touchstone from Sullenberger Aviation Museum pointed out the work of Operation Airdrop, their information is here- https://www.operation-airdrop.com/hurricane-helene

There are certainly other volunteer organizations quietly going about supply and rescue operations- I will add any additional updates that I get to next week’s blog. Thanks for reading.