Royal Jet BBJ Slightly Damaged in Abu Dhabi Tempest

A Royal Jet BBJ, registered as A6-DRF, on display at Abu Dhabi Air Expo 2016 suffered what appears to be only superficial damage on Wednesday when two light aircraft were blown under it during a severe morning storm that brought the show to a halt for a second day.

“Two light carbon-fiber craft were blown [by high winds] under the BBJ. I think they have been destroyed,” Royal Jet CEO Patrick Gordon told AIN Wednesday evening. “All our aircraft received were scratches on the paint. However, the engineers will check it in the morning. We are rushing to get things back to normal.”

He is optimistic that his engineers would not find anything untoward, but said that airport security told Royal Jet not to move the aircraft. “We will do an assessment to make sure there is no damage,” he said. “I wouldn't even use the word damage.”

Gordon said the heavy rains raised the spectre of electrocution at the show site on the ramp at Al Bateen Executive Airport, which was flooded in parts by three inches of rain on Tuesday. “One of my concerns is all the electrical cables running around on the ground,” he said.

Like other show attendees, Gordon was surprised by the severity of the weather on Tuesday and Wednesday. “We got hammered pretty heavily. Security handled it really well. I've never seen storms like this.”