Solar Impulse To Arrive As Scheduled, But Exhibit Plans Change Because Of Storm

The severe storms that rocked the St. Louis region Friday caused extensive damage to several airport support buildings and hangars at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport based on an initial assessments by the airport on Saturday.

The damage will alter the exhibit plans for the Solar Impulse aircraft which is scheduled to arrive late Monday or early Tuesday morning with several days of public and private events to follow at the airport. The high-tech solar powered plane was scheduled to be parked in Building 2, the former McDonnell Douglas hangar on the north side of the airfield. Solar Impulse decided to neither postpone nor to cancel the flight to St. Louis and will use its own prototype inflatable hangar in the same general area of the airport's hangar. This structure, conceived and designed by the Solar Impulse team, will be used for the very first time in real conditions.  The schedule of events will be released at a later time by the Solar Impulse mission team.

Solar Impulse departed Dallas/Fort Worth early Monday morning en route to St. Louis after being delayed by the weather.

Portions of the hangar roof on Building 2 were torn off the building. The airport has deemed the facility no longer occupiable because of the safety of the roof is compromised. The walls and the rest of the hangar structure are intact.

The airport also suffered hangar damage to the facility immediately to the west of Building 2. The ATS Jet Center also had extensive roof damage on the aircraft maintenance center. Portions of that hangar, leased by Airport Terminal Services (ATS) and Trans States Airlines, are also no longer occupiable because of roof damage.  The Airport is working with those tenants to continue to operate.

On the west side of Terminal 1, Lambert suffered roof damage to its primary Airfield Maintenance and Auto Shop complex. Portions of the roof were torn off and bay doors for the auto shop were damaged or collapsed during the storm. The airport suffered damage to numerous vehicles both in the shop at the time or parked outside the facilities. The Airport’s Materials Management warehouse in the same general area also suffered roof damage. The warehouse is the storage for all airport parts, equipment and operational supplies.

Lastly, the airport has reports of damage to its remote parking lot, Super Park Lot C.

There are no cost estimates at this time from the preliminary assessment of the damage. Nobody was injured in the storm. The airport is now working with its insurance company, consultants and contractors on a post storm recovery plan.

(Image provided by Solar Impulse)

FMI: www.flystl.com