For the latest update on Hurricane Dorian, check thepointsguy.com/hurricane.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is evacuating the university's fleet of aircraft ahead of Hurricane Dorian. The university operates a fleet of around 64 aircraft used for instructional and training flights. Embry-Riddle's main campus is located in Daytona Beach, Florida, which is expected to experience hurricane conditions early next week.
According to data from Flightradar24, the evacuation began early Saturday morning. The university's fleet, which includes 51 Cessna 172s and various other small propeller aircraft, is being relocated outside of the storm's track. Airports taking in Embry-Riddle's fleet include Auburn Airport and Tuskegee Airport in Alabama.
The university conducts an evacuation of its fleet of aircraft anytime a major tropical storm or hurricane is forecast to impact the region. Operating smaller fixed-wing aircraft like the Cessna 172 makes the university's fleet especially susceptible to storm damage. Depending on the severity of the storm, larger passenger aircraft like the Airbus A320 family or Boeing 737 series may be able to ride out a tropical storm or minor hurricane, but smaller aircraft can easily be impacted by a storm's intense winds.
Hurricane Dorian is currently a category 4 storm roughly 400 miles to the east of the Florida coast packing maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. The storm's track was initially forecast to the make direct landfall on Florida's east coast early next week, but the most recent forecast has shifted the storm's track with the most intense part of the storm now expected to remain off the coast of eastern Florida.
While Hurricane Dorian is not expected to make direct landfall in eastern Florida, the storm is forecast to impact cities along the Florida coast beginning Sunday. Cities along Florida's coast that are expected to be impacted by the storm include Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Daytona Beach, and Jacksonville.
Current models indicate that Hurricane Dorian will exit the Florida coast late in the day on Wednesday. The storm is also expected to impact communities along the coast of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Airlines have issued travel waivers ahead of Hurricane Dorian with numerous cancellations and delays expected.
