capt. mike - 4-5-2010 at 02:27 PM
this pilot was in a holding pattern trying to land at Mexicali MMML during the quake. wild stuff....
"We were flying back from Punta Bufeo to Mexicali in our 182 yesterday. We were 20 miles out and in contact with MMML tower when the earthquake
struck. The tower called and told us to hold south of the airport so they could inspect the runway for damage. When we started our first holding
circle we were amazed to see a huge dust cloud rising up from the ground to aprox. 3000 feet. The tower called about 10 minutes later and cleared us
to land. As soon as we steped out of the plane you could feel the ground moving and we felt several after shocks while our plane was being re-fueled.
The terminal building had substatial damage with many large cracks in the walls and ceiling. The tower has cracks in area just bellow the tower
windows.
We departed MMML for CXL at 4:30 and saw several fires in down town Mexicali and many people out of their homes. The runway and terminal building at
CXL apeared to be OK."
reported on BBP today.