The spring semester at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s (ERAU) Daytona Beach, Fla. campus started only six days late last month despite a Christmas Day tornado that destroyed campus buildings and almost two-thirds of the school’s single- and twin-engine piston flight-training fleet. No one was injured in the storm, which the National Weather Service classified as an F2 (causing considerable damage). The rest of Daytona Beach International Airport, where ERAU is located, survived unscathed.
The tornado caused an estimated $50 million in damage, destroyed 40 of the school’s 65 Cessna 172 and Piper Seminole trainers and damaged another 10. In addition to the aircraft, Spruance Hall, the school’s main administration building that houses the president’s office, student records and financial and other sensitive information, has been rendered unusable and may have to be demolished, according to university spokesman Robert Ross. No private student information was compromised, Ross added.
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