They fly into the eye of a hurricane. Who are these people? Why would they do such a thing? They are “Hurricane Hunters.” Even the most advanced satellites today cannot provide all the facts the National Hurricane Center forecasters need to predict when and where a hurricane will strike. Information is also needed to predict how powerful the storm will be. Satellites today can estimate the strength of a hurricane, but these numbers are not accurate enough. What is at first classified as a Category 2 hurricane may actually be determined to be a dangerous Category 3 after more information is gathered. 2 In 1943 Colonel Joseph Duckworth became the first pilot to fly into the eye of a hurricane on purpose. He flew into a hurricane over land near Houston, Texas, on July 27, 1943. He had been an airline pilot who taught Army Air Corps pilots how to fly through bad weather during World War II. He taught pilots how to reduce risk by using their skill, their knowledge, and careful planning. 3 Duckworth’s success flying through the hurricanes and the damage done to Navy ships by incorrectly forecasted hurricanes persuaded the military to begin studying hurricanes. These studies collected useful information. The program’s first accomplishment came with “The Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944.” At this time Navy and Army planes tracked the storm from Puerto Rico to New England. A similar storm with the same track had caused a great deal of damage in 1938 when it came ashore with no warning. The forecast information that came from these military flights was used to reduce all types of destruction in the path of the 1944 hurricane. 4 Today the “Hurricane Hunters” are members of the 53rd Weather Investigation Squadron of the Air Force Reserve. They are based at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. There is a six-person crew on each flight. It includes the pilot, the co-pilot, the flight engineer, the navigator, and the weather officer. There is also a dropsonde system operator. The dropsonde system operator releases the dropsonde, which is a weather-sensing canister attached to a small parachute. The canister can send back to the plane information about the temperature, humidity, pressure, and winds inside the hurricane. This information is then transferred to the National Hurricane Center by satellite. 5 When the National Hurricane Center in Miami determines that a hurricane is approaching the United States, the “Hurricane Hunters” take off in two planes. One of the WC-130 planes will enter the hurricane close to the sea surface. The other plane will fly much higher into the storm. As the storm builds in strength, the planes will fly at increasingly higher altitudes. These planes are designed to withstand takeoffs, landings, and high altitude winds up to 200 miles per hour. 6 Their goal is not to fly over or around the hurricane but to fly directly into it. Each mission will last about ten hours. During this time the crew will fly from the outer edge all the way through the eye wall, which is a solid ring of thunderstorms. The crew will fly to the eye, or center of the storm, four to six times. All the while, radar, computers, and weather instruments will collect valuable information inside the hurricane. This information cannot be attained any other way. The knowledge will inform weather forecasters where the hurricane is going, when it will get there, and how strong it will be. 7 One day a plane with no pilot, such as the Aerosonde, may take the place of the “Hurricane Hunters.” Until then, no hurricane can approach the shoreline of the United States without sufficient warning because of the skill and dedication of the “Hurricane Hunters.”