Hurricane Hunter Aircraft @ RDU

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HPNFlyGirl

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iBrookieMonster
I had the change to tour the hurricane hunter aircraft when it was at RDU
this past week.

I was surprised at how accurate the data is once they drop out the data tubes into the hurricanes. On the side of the airplane there are names of hurricanes that particular hurricane the plane has flown through.

The planes are named after the muppets. The plane I toured was Miss Piggy. They also have Kermit, and Gonzo (which is a high altitude plane).

It was very interesting. Here is a video that the local tv station put together:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/5097904/

I have some pictures that I will post later on.
 
They are pretty cool!

I was stationed at Keesler AFB in the early 1980's when the Hurrican Hunters will still on active duty and assigned there. I do not remember a lot about them but I recall one of the crew telling me that they get a lot of ride requests, but almost never a request to "do it again".
 
scottd said:
These are called dropsondes. The older style (left in picture below) has now been replaced by the one on the right.

Dropsondes.gif


I had a chance to visit the National Hurricane Center this year and was able to chat with one of their specialists who monitors the hurricane hunter missions. After a few phone calls, I was able to get on a short list of civilians to ride along on one of their missions into an actual hurricane sometime this season. :fcross:
Click to expand...

I hope you are able to do that Scott. That would be really awesome. :smile:
 
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