Around 9:30 p.m. on March 31, 2023, a devastating tornado roared through central Illinois, leveling Crawford County Airport (KRSV) in Robinson.
“We lost 19 airplanes and every building on the airfield,” said Mark Hermann, vice chairman of the Crawford County Airport Authority.
One of those airplanes was his. They found it the next day, about a half mile away, in a bean field.
“Now, after two and a half years, we are putting the finishing touches on our brand new $3.8 million terminal building that will complete our rebuild,” he said, noting a ceremony has been slated for Nov. 19, 2025, for the official opening.
The last two and a half years have been a busy time for airport authorities, who learned a lot of lessons in the aftermath of the destruction.
First Things First
As with everything aviation-related, the first priority was safety.
With the end game of getting the airport open as soon as possible, volunteers and airport crews went to work cleaning up the debris on the two runways and taxiways, while another group was tasked with securing other areas of the airport so those curious to see the damage wouldn’t get hurt.
“We were trying to make the area safe again before we could sit down and evaluate what needed to be done,” he said.
That included getting insurance companies involved.
“We wanted to make sure we were doing everything the right way so that if somebody’s plane was not as damaged as we thought it was, we could get it out of the hangars and save it. That wasn’t the case. Every airplane was a total loss.”
A saving grace? Because the tornado happened at night, no one was injured or killed. One of the two airport cats, unfortunately, was lost in the tornado.
In the days after the tornado, many members of the community came out to the airport to help the clean up efforts and to get the airport opened up again as soon as possible.
Meanwhile airport officials got to work with the local government, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), and the FAA to see what resources were available.
“We didn’t get every resource that we wanted, but by continually working with the FAA and IDOT and local government, we were able to secure a grant that allowed us to build the new terminal,” he said.
Along with the terminal, new hangars were built, including four box hangars and 12 T-hangars.
Now that its rebuild is complete, the airport hopes to attract new businesses, with the big prize an experimental aircraft manufacturer that may be looking to expand.
It also hopes to attract more corporations and local businesses to base their planes at the airport.
The airport also had been looking at preparing for electric aircraft. In fact it was the first airport in Illinois to have a charging station for electric aircraft.
But before they could turn on the equipment, the tornado hit, destroying the charging station and KRSV’s claim to be the first.
“We want to be on the forefront of electric aircraft and drones,” Hermann said. “With Part 108 coming out in the next six months to a year, we could serve a lot of communities in a safe manner for package drones because we are centrally located.”
That central location also would be great for a Part 135 or charter operation, he added.
There hasn’t been much flight training at the airport since the tornado, he noted, adding airport officials hope that is going to change now that the airport is back at full strength.
“Especially with the new sport pilot requirements easing up, we hope we’ll be able to interest more people in the community to go and get a sport license,” he said.
Lessons Learned
In the two years since the tornado, airport officials have learned several important lessons.
The first is that there was nothing the airport could have done to protect the airplanes or the terminal from such a damaging tornado.
“Everything was built up to standards and it failed,” he said.
Next, secure the site as clean up begins.
While community members showed up to help clean up, there also were some bad actors.
Hermann tells the story of two scrappers showing up with a truck, pointing to an airplane, and asking a worker to put it on the trailer, claiming it was theirs. Luckily the worker turned them down and the scrappers headed to another site destroyed by the tornado.
“They ended up getting arrested later,” he said.
Another lesson: Work with local officials.
While the airport authority is its own form of government, it still needed to work with people in the city of Robinson and in Crawford County.
“Work with the local government officials and see what kind of help you can get from them,” he advised. “Just be open and honest on everything that you’re doing, especially when it comes to the cleanup.”
Also, be open with your insurance company, he said, but realize that you’re not going to get your insurance payout right away.
“The hard part is knowing that you’re spending all the reserves you have before you even get the insurance money, “ he said.
Another realization: That while the state and federal government will help with rebuilding, it does not help with the cost of cleaning up after the storm.
“We had to front all that money ourselves,” he said.
As the terminal prepares to open, the airport authority is faced with another expense: While the building is paid for, it doesn’t have any furniture. That’s the next task on the agenda.
Perhaps the most important lesson airport officials learned was the importance of community.
“Be supportive of your community because they’re more than happy to give back to you when you’re having a disaster like this,” he said. “We had a lot of volunteers come out and help with the clean-up efforts.”
And the last lesson: Be patient.
“As a pilot, if my engine is on fire, I want to fix it right away,” he said. “But this process is a very, very, very, very, very long process to get everything done. So if this happens to some other airport, you’ve just got to have a lot of patience.”
That patience did win some awards: In 2024 the airport’s clean-up efforts led it to win the Illinois Public Airport Association Small General Aviation Airport of the Year in Illinois, while in 2025 the terminal project won project of the year.
Make Time for Fun
Even in the midst of the rebuilding effort, there was some fun.
In 2024, even though the airport wasn’t completely rebuilt, it was able to host an air show, Wings By The Wabash, with the help of a league of volunteers.
“This was a way to tell the community ‘hey, we’re back,” Hermann said.
As the person in charge of the air show, Hermann said he was pleasantly surprised to get an email two weeks before the show asking it he would like a visit from an F-18.
“I was like are you serious?” he said with a laugh.
It turns out a Canadian Air Force F-18 demonstrator was slated to go to another air show that got canceled, so it flew to KSRV for its air show.
As an aside, Hermann points out that while a U.S. F-18 can’t fly in to KRSV because of U.S. requirements, Canadian requirements allow it.
“So within two weeks, with help from my friends and all the people we’ve worked with in the community, I got everything we needed to have the F-18 visit. It was mostly firefighting equipment, so by using four different fire departments in the area we were good.”
“The F-18 coming down here for us was really, really good for the community,” he recalled.
Just as that was put into place, the airport was faced with another visit from Mother Nature.
The night before the show, torrential rains and 70 mph winds hit the area for five hours straight. When it cleared in the morning the air show could go on but not before the community came together one more time to save the day.
Volunteers, including members of a local high school wrestling team, showed up at 4 a.m. to help put the exhibits and fencing back up. By 9 a.m the gates were ready to open.
“Even though it was raining and misty over the two days of the air show, we had 5,000 people show up,” he said.
For more information: Facebook.com, Wings-By-The-Wabash.com
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