Purpose
Although satellite data has revolutionized weather forecasters' ability to spot tropical cyclones before it form, there are however several crucial tasks for which these are non suited. Satellite mental imagery just can't determine a interior barometric pressure of a hurricane, nor potty it provide precise trading tools all about wind speeds. These information come required by predictor to accurately predict the hurricane's development & movement.

Because satellites can't collect a information & ships come two as well slow & as well vulnerable to big storm-generated waves, a sole way to collect this information is by using aircraft.

Aircraft
A WC-130 & WP-3D aircraft come two big, uncompromising naval patrol aircraft by using turboprop engines. Their purpose is to fly directly into a hurricane, usually penetrating a hurricane's eye many days around a single mission. Inside counterpoint, NOAA's Gulfstream IV-SP circles hurricanes at high altitude, collecting upwind information all about storms' surroundings.

A lot trine aircraft system stand been heavy modified through the addition of multiple big upwind microwave radar, dropsonde support, and meteorology stations; however, a aircraft are non specially strengthened for the project of investigating hurricanes.

Outside of hurricane year, hurricane hunter aircraft come typically deployed to northern area of the United States to track winter storms and nor'easters.

More aircraft use been utilized to investigate hurricanes, including an instrumented Lockheed U-2 that was flown in Hurricane Ginny during the 1963 Atlantic hurricane season.

History

1943 Surprise Hurricane
A 1943 Surprise Hurricane, which struck Houston, Texas during World War II, marked the number 1 designed meteoric flight into the hurricane. It began by having the bet.

That summertime, British pilots were existence trained inside instrument flight at Bryan Field. While it saw that a Americans were evacuating their AT-6 Texan trainers in a face of the storm, they began questioning the construction of the aircraft. Lead teacher Colonel Joe Duckworth took one of a trainers retired, & flew it straight into the eye of the storm. Fallowing he returned safely using navigator Lt. Ralph O'Hair, the base's weather officer, Lt. William Jones-Burdick, took over a navigator's seat & Duckworth flew into a storm another period.

This flight showed that hurricane reconnaissance mission flights were imaginable, & farther flights continued irregularly. Inside 1975, the U.S. Air Force Reserve established a dedicated squadron for the purpose of flying into hurricanes and other severe storms.

Swan 38
Within 1974, a new reborn WC-130H (serial total 65-0965) was transferred to the 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. A aircraft was sent to investigate Typhoon Bess. A crew departed Clark Air Base in the Philippines with the callsign "Swan ??".

Radio email by owning a aircraft was wasted in 12 October 1974, apparently as a aircraft was running into a typhoon's eye to produce another position fix. There were there is no radio transmissions indicating an emergency in board, & seek teams may not find a aircraft or even its crew. Wholly 6 crewman were used when KIA.

Swan 38 is one of simply the handful of Hurricane Hunter flights misplaced, & the simply WC-130 to last down within a storm.

Hurricane Katrina
A landfall of Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005 caused devastating damage to Keesler AFB, home base of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. A devices & personnel of the squadron come nowadays flying away from Dobbins Air Reserve Base near Atlanta. Notwithstanding, a 403rd wing — of which a 53rd occurs as a share — has been moved to ii different locations: Little Rock Air Force Base in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia. It may remain there for the foreseeable first, based on datthe from Al Bosco, a Keesler spokesman, while Keesler is utilized largely for humanitarian support of local communities.

Trivia
In-camera meteorologists Warren Madden and Nicole Mitchell of The Weather Channel are part of the Hurricane Hunters. A TV network's studios are located upright two or three minutes out of Dobbins, from either which it would commonly fly to Keesler to join missions. Two come located in Cobb County, in the northwestern suburbs of metro Atlanta.

Sources

Swan 38
[http://www.spectrumwd.com/c130/articles/wc130.htm Whiskey Charlie] [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19741013-0 ASN Accident description 13 OCT 1974 Lockheed WC-130H Hercules 65-0965] [http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/2003-07-16-flying-hurricanes_x.htm Why and how people fly into hurricanes] - United states Now - sidebar, "Fatal flights"