“Respect Nature”: Violent Wind Gusts Flip Plane at Italian Airport in Terrifying Facebook Video

• Violent wind gusts tore through Forlì Airport in northern Italy on Friday, flipping four light aircraft on the tarmac
• A four-seat Diamond DA40 spun a full 360 degrees on the runway while its propeller was still running
• Forlì Airport briefly shut down, and a hangar was damaged, though officials confirmed nobody was hurt in the chaos

A violent gust of wind tore through Forlì Airport in northern Italy on Friday. Dramatic video shows four light aircraft being flipped and dragged across the wet tarmac.

The extreme wind formed during a storm system moving through the Emilia-Romagna region. Experts pointed to a downburst, a sudden burst of wind that drops out of a storm cloud.

Gusts at Luigi Ridolfi Airport reached close to 120 kilometres per hour, or around 75 miles per hour. Parked light aircraft stood little chance against wind that strong.

Three small planes were ripped from their positions on the ground. The wind spun them around and rolled them across the runway as rain poured down.

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Propeller was still running during the spin

One aircraft, a four-seat Diamond DA40, was caught mid-spin and turned a full 360 degrees on the spot. Its propeller kept running throughout the entire ordeal.

Other light aircraft nearby were simply blown over. Some ended up flipped sideways, while others were pushed completely upside down by the force of the gusts.

The same wind also tore panels from the side of a maintenance hangar at the airport. Fallen trees were reported across the wider area outside the airfield.

Forlì Airport temporarily shut down for around an hour while staff dealt with the damage and cleared the runway of debris.

Despite how alarming the footage looks, authorities confirmed no injuries were reported on the ground. The affected aircraft were small private planes, not commercial flights.

According to reports, operations at the airport later returned to normal once conditions settled. Italy has faced a string of sudden, intense summer storms in recent weeks.

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Downbursts like this one are notoriously hard for forecasters to predict, since they can form and strike within minutes.

Watch the Facebook video below:

More articles about disastrous weather conditions

• KwaZulu-Natal's Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs department braced for severe weather in the province.
• Vox Weather Girls shared South Africa’s weekly forecast on TikTok, revealing cold fronts will stay south of the country.
• A national disaster was officially classified across six South African provinces following a week of extreme weather.

Source: Briefly News