Gregg,
...As the meso approached, the appropriate action would have been to drop south a few miles and let it pass and then get in behind it.
Simply put....then why did you not do this?
...Nobody in the vehicle saw these vortices as they were behind the truck and to the north at about the 7:00 position and everyone was focused on the main tornado moving across the road
THIS IS NOT A TRUE STATEMENT. There is video from one from your guests from the back window CLEARLY showing the sub vorticy "floating" to the rear of you. And even if this were true then your people should not be out there if they are not going to pay attention to everything that is going on around them AT ALL TIMES!!!!!!
...After the windows broke, they remained on the side of the road as many other chasers raced by without one single person stopping to check on them.
Am I understanding that you are implying that you are a victim??
You have got to be kidding me Gregg.
...They attempted to move east to catch up with the first vehicle after the main meso passed but got caught in the rain and huge hail wrapping around. At that point, they pulled over and once we got in touch with them from the first vehicle after the storm was well off to the north and east, we went back and took care of things..
Again, THIS IS NOT A TRUE STATEMENT! "We can move on up if you all want" was the exact wording from your guide/driver.
...Although all the windows shattered, nobody was hurt except for a few small cuts...
Small cuts??? Greg, you are not being honest at all....if you are going to tell your side please have enough respect for not only me but this whole forum to be honest and not lie.
...In regards to the video on TWC, I explained to my clients, they can do what they want with their own video. Our tour did NOT and will NOT make any money or handle anything in regards to selling their video. This was the choice of the client. Contact was made to us and the client handled all the details. They asked for a credit and he used our tour name, instead of his own name...
Contact was not made to you first again, this is nothing more than a damn lie. You all (your guide) contacted TWC and informed them that "we have got great video of us getting hit by a tornado"
...In regards to all the comments about how stupid we were, I can understand. However, there were many, many cars on HWY 11 that day under the meso. Our first vehicle passed many of them, including TWC and tons of others. We were not the only ones on that road. It was completely random that we got the windows broken out and not the car behind or in front of our second truck...because there were cars all over the road. I understand we are operating a tour and should have remained further away, but we did not do anything different that many other chasers did that day....
Yes you did....you put your guest lives at a major risk and then tried to capitlize off of it with the video sales. YOU DID THAT. No one twisted your arm and made you drive straight towards a tornado, no made you stop along the side of the road, your guide did that to try and get video.
...In regards to other tours losing business because of this, are you telling me people that book tours to chase tornadoes don't expect some potential of danger?....
Greg, you should know the answer to that question already. Guests do know that there is some danger involved but getting hit by a tornado SHOULD NOT BE ONE OF THEM.
...this is not the case of us being stupid or not a good company, this is about a single event that should have been handled differently and will next time from our standpoint.?....
I have to respectfully have to disagree. This was caused by ignornace and a hasty decision to stop and get video on a tornadic storm that was moving in that direction at up to 55-60mph with people who either:
A) have no idea what they are really doing
B) Were not paying attention to all of their surroundings
Either way, it all points back to not having enough knowledge, not paying attention and or ignornace.
...We run tours because it allows us to interact with new people that have the same passion and to educate them on forecasting and chasing...
This comment makes me sick. I sincerely hope and pray that you have not been teaching your guests this type of chasing for the past 11 years.
Gregg, let's call a spade a spade... you have taken the postion that this situation was not your fault, you tried to blame it on other chasers to start with and then retracted that statement after the video was released. Now you seem pissed off that those same chasers who "caused" this didn't stop to help you. Then you say that your team just didn't see the tornado when clearly someone on your tour has video from the back. You then claim that you all had to stop as to not be run over when again, other chasers have video of you all stoping to try and shoot video. Frankly I do not understand why all the lies but most importantly I do not understand why you all felt the need to put your guests in such a position and under such danger?
And yes, we have lost business, one guest called and decided they(husband and wife) did not want to go becuase they saw the video on TWC a few times. This should not be hard to understand...where there is smoke there is usually fire and I can tell them a million times that we do not run our tours/business that way but as you should already know, if a picture says a thousand words, video tells tenfold.
It is with the utmost respect and sorrow for your guests when I say that I hope you and your team get the much additional training and support you so obviously need before you go back out again risking innocent lives. I do not care how many real "meteorologist" you have, they and you need addition support and real experience. I would much rather have real chasing experience than some degree setting on the wall when I am out there. Hopefully this will not happen again otherwise, the next time someone may get killed.
Best of luck.
Now, to address those who felt the need to bring Mr. Reed Timmer in this situation. I have no real idea how his name even got brought up but I find it very interesting that everytime someone has a close call it always goes back to Reed and how he is to blame in some way or another.
Reed is Reed...he is doing his own deal and has since he started. The biggest problem people have with him is that he is successfully bagging tornadoes event after event and people get jealous. Reed and company have taken that success and brought it to a whole new level...it's not like he reinvited the wheel. Reed and I have had a few phone conversations over the last few years, some know that he and I have even had an issue with each other regarding a video sale and TVN streaming but c'mon people, he is just a regular guy that has made a good name for himself doing what he loves to do. Some have even called him a sellout....if you are making even a small income doing what you love and know how to do it is not being a sellout, it's called living the dream.
Frankly I am so tired of people blaming Reed for other peoples actions. People get close because they want to and just as Greeg did with his tour, no one twisted his arm to do so. He and his guide did it becuase the wanted to. If you play with a snake long enough it will bite you. Gregg just got bit....it is unfortuante that it was during a tour.
