What's in your hangar?
 

At 3:30 this morning, Napa, where I live and have my RV-12 was hit with a magnitude 6.0 earthquake. In my 60 + years in California it was by far the hardest quake I have ever encountered. In my neighborhood, Nothing is left on any shelf. Bookcases ,dressers , and even refridgerators are flat on the floor. We are ok, sadly the same can't be said for the china, and several antiques.

As I was picking up, I suddenly realized that there were several large, heavy cabinets in the hanger. They were within falling distance of my 12. The drive to the airport was the longest ever. I kept thinking what a 200 lb storage cabinet could do to an airplane. By hapenstance, the shock was not very severe at the airport, and nothing was damaged. If my hangerhad taken the same hit as my house, or even worse, downtown Napa, My plane would be trashed. There is no excuse for me to have things that could fall on the plane unsecured. Oh yeah, it won't happen to me.

For those of us along the west coast in particular, what is in your hanger that you don't want to see embedded in your plane?

Very glad to hear your airplane was spared.
Also, you give good advice and deserved attention to the issue.

Mark, glad you and the plane are OK.

Moved this thread to "Safety".

In a nutshell, nothing. For this very reason. Same reason the antique clocks in my house are screwed to the wall instead of just hanging. Just one of those things you have to do living in earthquake country.

It is good to hear none of you were hurt!

Airplanes can be repaired, which thankfully you won't have to do.

Sorry to hear about your house being trashed though.

After seeing some of the Napa photos (including a bad one at a spot I bought lunch at in March, so that's kinda sad), I'm thinking that one of the things in the hangar i wouldn't want to see embedded in a plane is the hangar itself.

- mark

Mark, where is your hangar? I was based at Napa from 1999-2006 and had T-hangar #87.

Unfortunately, the tower didn't do as well as your hangar:

http://www.sfgate.com/default/articl...er-5709248.php

Just a tip about landing at Napa. When the tower re-opens, listen carefully if they want you to use 36L or 36R. I admit to nothing, but the one most small planes use is on the Right as I found out once we got on the ground and had to make a phone call. Im sure the Citation pilot was happy to do a go-around and get more flight time.

Direction is important.
 

I do not believe it was any less powerfull at the airport. Things on shelfs running east/west will be affected different than shelfs set up north/south. Especially true in a rolling quake. Just the nature of the motion of a quake. I think when they report on a quake they need to tell more than the strength, 6.3 etc. and also give the duration, such as 32 seconds. Two quakes of the same strength but different durations can be quite different in the amounts of damage inflicted.