Abandoned chaser vehicle in OK..............

[AndyGabrielson]

I just get a kick out of a couple of you on here honestly. We all like the same thing, chasing storms. I love storm chasing. Why is 1/3 of this thread about whether or not if it was some nobody or new chaser, they would get thrown under the bus? Why would you want to do that to somebody who has the same passion for something as you? You don't have to like everyone but it wouldn't hurt to try and get along? I try to get along with everybody. I was backing up, it was a paved road, it was a side road in Oklahoma, so it had some patching and pot holes, I was backing up, I would guess at around 20mph (im not sure what kind of reverse gear some people have but i have never even tried running 40 in reverse, im pretty my car would be at 7,000 RPM ?? Anyway, I was looking directly out the back window, was not even watching the tornado, there was a flatter spot in the ditch or maybe even a field entrance a few yards back and I was just going to turn around and head north again. The tornado was nearly a half mile away from me when the mishap happened. I hit a bump or some ponding on the road, it had some standing water. I think the real kicker is before some of you even saw a video or read a tweet, you immediately jumped to conclusions. Living within the same time zone as a tornado doesn't mean you know what really happened. TVN, Steve, JR, whoever else stopped to check, thank you, I would do the same for anybody else. It was something that could have happened on a sunny day, if the road was washed out and I had to back up, and hit the same area, it would happen again. Afterwards a few people suggested it looked like an axle broke or something, having had that happen before on a race car it did honestly feel like one wheel just stopped pulling and it caused the wheel to jerk out of my hands. I don't have any reason to lie about what happened. I did three interviews today regarding it, I said this is why you shouldn't assume chasing is safe just because you see it on TV. I spent another bit talking about how I appreciated all the help from TVN and the chaser community (being I didnt know who all stopped other than TVN). I also stressed the importance of wearing your seat belts (even though I as many people are guilty of not always doing so), and also stressed the importance of not trying to do this, plain and simple... I don't expect anyone to sit here and say it's ok, had I been going 8mph or even 15mph in reverse would the result have been different? Possibly. I have seen others have accidents of their own, whether it be driving in wintry conditions or going to or from a chase, people hitting deer, nobody questioned that, this isn't any different. Who said they weren't texting and driving, I mean these are things nobody knows. I am telling you the truth to the best of my knowledge, I am not making excuses, not blaming anybody, I was focused on the road behind me, and had a driving mishap unrelated to a tornado. The vehicle likely would not have rolled if it hadn't sunk about a foot or so into the earth and dug in... Hope everyone who was out chasing had a great chase, it was an intense way to bring in November. I saw alot of great video from it. Take care,

Andy

 

[jordan.hamilton]

I have chased many times with Andy, in fact I think I have chased more with him than any other chaser except Tyler Costantini. I have been in sticky situations with Andy before and he has always had the nerve and the ability to stay very calm in the most hectic chasing situations. I would feel just as comfortable riding along with Andy now as I would have before his vehicle flipped. As has been mentioned, if you want to sell video these days you need the most extreme tornado video you can get. This is one of the reasons that Andy consistently sells video to the networks. Andy is trying to make a living chasing storms and he does what he does to sell video. I have also chased with Joey Ketchum several times before, back when he use to chase. I would trust my life to Andy's judgment and cool under pressure vs what I have seen with Joey.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I would trust my life to Andy's judgment and cool under pressure vs what I have seen with Joey.

My judgement doesn't consist of getting up close to any tornado. My judgement takes my personal safety into account, and that style of chasing doesn't consist of being yards away from a tornado. That might be okay for others, I like some distance between me and a tornado.

 

[jordan.hamilton]

My judgement doesn't consist of getting up close to any tornado. My judgement takes my personal safety into account, and that style of chasing doesn't consist of being yards away from a tornado. That might be okay for others, I like some distance between me and a tornado.

Everything we do in life is a calculated risk, just as with an investment. Some people are more risk-tolerant, with more risk can come greater rewards. Just because you or anyone else is more risk-adverse like me or Andy or anyone else that likes to get close and get great video does not make them an idiot or call their judgment into question, in fact I would argue that someone that gets close to tornadoes consistently and comes out OK must have a great sense of judgment. It makes them a risk taker, risk takers brought us modern day computers and even our country.

 

[Tyler_Costantini]

I guess it all comes down to people have different opinions! We will never all agree,, but,, I don't think Andy should be labeled as "BAD" because of this. Nor should we flame on and on about it with little to no intelligent conservation. The facts are fairly clear Andy backed up turned and wiped out. If it would have been 100miles from the tornado no one would give a crap!!! We can debate weither people should or shouldn't get close to tornadoes the fact is people don't care about what other say all that much they are going to do what they want to do right or wrong end of story.. It kinda reminds me about politics people argue their point and never listen to anything they don't want to hear. I would say i probably have a bit of a bias in my opinion on this because I'm good friends with Andy hes staying at my house right now until he can figure out how to get home, just for full disclosure! I'm glad everyone had a good chase and saw an amazing tornado and no one got hurt..

 

[J Tyler]

A couple of things.....

When I snow ski, I enjoy the black diamond areas. Do you guys sit in the bunny trails and bitch all day about me? When a skier gets hurt or even dies on the black diamond slope, do you guys all freak out saying, "Oh there he goes! He's making ALL us skiers look bad! They are going to regulate this, and it will all be THAT guys fault!"?????

When I go rafting, Level 4 is as far as I go. BUT, I don't bash on the Level 6 guys as being "wreckless idiots"! I know they are willing to push it farther than I want to, and farther than "I" have the skill to, but I still feel like those guys enjoy rafting like I do so there is no bashing.

When I went to the Rocky Mountains this year, I went back country tent camping. Do you guys sit in the hotel and label me as "getting whatever comes to me"! If a bear kills a camper in a tent, or a tent camper is injured while hiking back from the site, so you say "Well, he got whats coming to him, he gets no sympathy from ME!"????

This seems to be the only hobby I know of where this happens. I don't get it.

Those of you who wail on and on about staying back 2 miles to play it safe....Do you realise that the general public thinks YOU are crazy and are being "so wreckless"? My aunt thinks YOU guys are nuts and that YOU should be "in the hidey hole" when there is a tornado. My mother in law thinks people who drive in the rain are being wreckless (I swear I am serious). I have to hear her everytime we go chase, about how there is NO REASON to be driving while it is raining. NAG NAG NAG. Be glad she is not your mother in law. BUT, my point is, regular people think YOU are nuts, wreckless, etc. Just like regular people think people who go rafting are nuts, who go snow skiing are being wreckless.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Those of you who wail on and on about staying back 2 miles to play it safe....Do you realise that the general public thinks YOU are crazy and are being "so wreckless"?

Problem is, I really don't care what people think of me or what I do in life. I'm not narcissistic, so I couldn't care less what people's opinion of me or what I do are. This thread obviously went further than it should have, imagine that. My only point, mostly missed during all of this, is that if a person's style of storm chasing consists of getting within yards of a tornado and something bad happens to them, such as death, then good for them. I hope it was worth it! No, I really mean it in the most sincere way possible. I'm sure I will enjoy the video that follows. That person made a choice, they accepted the risk and if that risk caused them to face that final consequence, death, than yay for them and their amazing judgment.

I am not hating anyone for their style of chasing, everyone's style of chasing differs. Even though I prefer to chase safely without putting myself in danger, I still watch those extreme close up videos just like every one else. They are entertaining. But if and when a video is posted of their vehicle being tossed violently through the air by a tornado as a result of getting too close, my sympathy will only go as far as me saying "well, sucks to be them", followed by me watching that video 10 more times. That's just me.

So, now that the air is cleared and we all have learned that Andy's accident was a result of hitting a pothole in the road while going in reverse at 20MPH and had nothing to do with the tornado itself or him being reckless, we can all move on and be joyful and happy. And in the end, remember, going in reverse at 20MPH= bad things happening to you. I'm pretty certain that I've never gone more than 5MPH in reverse.

 

[Nick Nolte]

Storm chasers and drama, like moths to a flame. Just go chase. Amirite?

 

[Shane Adams]

Storm chasers and drama, like moths to a flame. Just go chase. Amirite?

I think it's time we stopped making "drama" the exclusive province of chasers. It happens with people, period. Some of which happen to be chasers.

 

[Jarrod Barnett]

Everything we do in life is a calculated risk, just as with an investment. Some people are more risk-tolerant, with more risk can come greater rewards. Just because you or anyone else is more risk-adverse like me or Andy or anyone else that likes to get close and get great video does not make them an idiot or call their judgment into question, in fact I would argue that someone that gets close to tornadoes consistently and comes out OK must have a great sense of judgment. It makes them a risk taker, risk takers brought us modern day computers and even our country.

Im pretty certain that this is the best post in this thread.

A couple of things.....

When I snow ski, I enjoy the black diamond areas. Do you guys sit in the bunny trails and bitch all day about me? When a skier gets hurt or even dies on the black diamond slope, do you guys all freak out saying, "Oh there he goes! He's making ALL us skiers look bad! They are going to regulate this, and it will all be THAT guys fault!"?????

When I go rafting, Level 4 is as far as I go. BUT, I don't bash on the Level 6 guys as being "wreckless idiots"! I know they are willing to push it farther than I want to, and farther than "I" have the skill to, but I still feel like those guys enjoy rafting like I do so there is no bashing.

When I went to the Rocky Mountains this year, I went back country tent camping. Do you guys sit in the hotel and label me as "getting whatever comes to me"! If a bear kills a camper in a tent, or a tent camper is injured while hiking back from the site, so you say "Well, he got whats coming to him, he gets no sympathy from ME!"????

This seems to be the only hobby I know of where this happens. I don't get it.

Those of you who wail on and on about staying back 2 miles to play it safe....Do you realise that the general public thinks YOU are crazy and are being "so wreckless"? My aunt thinks YOU guys are nuts and that YOU should be "in the hidey hole" when there is a tornado. My mother in law thinks people who drive in the rain are being wreckless (I swear I am serious). I have to hear her everytime we go chase, about how there is NO REASON to be driving while it is raining. NAG NAG NAG. Be glad she is not your mother in law. BUT, my point is, regular people think YOU are nuts, wreckless, etc. Just like regular people think people who go rafting are nuts, who go snow skiing are being wreckless.

Couldnt have said it better myself! GREAT POST!

You definitely seem like someone I would get along well with.

 

[Nick Nolte]

I think it's time we stopped making "drama" the exclusive province of chasers. It happens with people, period. Some of which happen to be chasers.

whatever, that works too.

 

[Steve Worthington]

Anyone see the cop car left "Abandoned" after it rolled? I did, but dont see anyone talking about it. BTW...did I just say "Abandoned" WOW... now all the cops look bad too...lmao

 

[Jarrod Barnett]

Anyone see the cop car left "Abandoned" after it rolled? I did, but dont see anyone talking about it. BTW...did I just say "Abandoned" WOW... now all the cops look bad too...lmao

lol

Better get them off the road before they hurt someone!

 

[Chip Redmond]

I think it's time we stopped making "drama" the exclusive province of chasers. It happens with people, period. Some of which happen to be chasers.

Well said good sir.

I also stressed the importance of wearing your seat belts (even though I as many people are guilty of not always doing so)

This is something that one can never stress enough. It is a big problem (and not only in the storm chaser community) and it should never be left lost in text. Sometimes it is often even forgotten when on a tornado and constantly getting in and out of the car, but even wearing it while the car is still and parked on the side of the road could save you from serious injury or even death. Make it a good habit before you chase and therefore it doesn't get lost in the moment!

Chip

 

[Greg Higgins]

I would like to add this thought for anytime an incident occurs; call the local authorities and let them know that you have been involved in an "incident", everyone is fine, you are leaving the scene for a bit (and will be back!) but that your vehicle is on the side of the road, and out of the traffic flow. Because there is visible damage, someone might see it and call 911 when in reality there is no need. The fire station I work from is in an urban / rural interface area and often times there are cars off on the side of the road (i.e., last winter during the ice storm). Someone drives by, sees the vehicle and calls 911 not realizing (or thinking!!) and we (fire, EMS amd LEO) have to respond and check, no matter how many times we've already been there! It could also head off comments from an "authority" speaking to the media and making remarks like what we saw in this particular situation.