The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s elite group of pilots and researchers, known as “Hurricane Hunters,” described flying through the world’s worst weather as “Like riding a roller coaster through a car wash.”
Below is a video taken Tuesday (Oct. 8) by NOAA engineer Noah Underwood.
The footage shows violent turbulence inside an aircraft as it punches through the eyewall of Hurricane Milton.
The crew is not thrill seekers looking for an adrenaline-filled joyride. They are pilots and scientists working together to help forecasters make accurate predictions during a hurricane and researchers better understand storm processes.
If you’ve ever experienced rough turbulence on a Boeing 747, imagine being in a prop plane surrounded by howling winds, blinding rain, dangerous lightning, and violent updrafts and downdrafts.
Suspending beverage service is obviously not the biggest concern. NOAA’s two Lockheed WP-3D Orion four-engine turboprop aircraft, Kermit and Miss Piggy slice through the eyewall of hurricanes multiple times during their 8-10 hour mission.
Scientists aboard the planes deploy GPS dropsondes that transmit measurements of pressure, humidity, temperature, and wind direction and speed as they fall toward the sea.
The P-3’s tail has a Doppler radar and lower fuselage radar systems that scan the storms vertically and horizontally.
This gives forecasters a detailed look at the structure and intensity of the storm.
Information gathered by these brave hurricane hunters directly contributes to the safety of people living in the path of hurricanes on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.