Hurricane Hunter Aircraft
What types of aircraft does NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) use to fly through the eye of a hurricane to measure its strength and make their amazing predictions?The P-3 turoprop, among others:
"Slicing through the eyewall of a hurricane, buffeted by howling winds, blinding rain, hail, and violent updrafts and downdrafts before entering the relative calm of the storm's eye, NOAA's two P-3 turboprop aircraft probe every wind and pressure change, repeating the grueling experience again and again during the course of a ten-hour mission.
Scientists aboard the aircraft deploy instruments called GPS (Global Positioning System) dropwindsondes as the P-3 flies through the hurricane. These devices continuously radio back measurements of pressure, humidity, temperature, and wind direction and speed as they fall toward the sea, providing a detailed look at the structure of the storm and its intensity."Labels: hurricane
posted by scalpel at 5:15 AM
7 Comments:
My hubby flew airplanes into hurricanes for a while as part of an internship.
Talk about OMG stressful for me. :O
I don't even like to fly on a commercial jet plane!!!! I would definatley crap my pants if I were to be in one of those planes !!! LOL
Hey scalpel, your thoughts on Sarah Palin?
That plane looks like a modified C-130, the air forces cargo/medevac plane. Having spent many hours in the back of a 130, I can't imagine flying into a hurricane in it.
NOAA uses C-130s as well. Larger plane, so it can carry more sondes and instruments. They have lost a plane and crew once or twice, but the pilots are crazy good (and just plain crazy).
At Weather Underground (www.wunderground.com - named for the old gopher Internet program they initially used to gather weather station data) Jeff Masters has a blog with good info and comments on the major storms. He flew in a storm chaser a few years before going back to grad school. Very cool guy.
CS
Best plane ever. (Not that I'm biased, as a former P3C ASW squadron naval flight surgeon.)
Oh, it's a modified Lockheed Electra, which was a commercial airliner in the 1950s. Lots of them still flying, they're a very tough and reliable platform.
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