As Hurricane Idalia rapidly approached Florida’s Big Bend region early Wednesday morning, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had to ground its last remaining “hurricane hunter” plane due to a generator failure.
These planes seem pretty amazing
The Lockheed planes, known as P-3s, punch through the eyewalls of hurricanes to gather the data forecasters need to make accurate predictions about the intensity and trajectory of hurricanes.
“They’re made to fly through nasty weather, and fly really low and be very rugged,” said Mark Luther, an oceanographer at the University of South Florida. “They’re very sturdy aircraft.”
But
The three planes are approaching the end of their life spans. The P-3s, for instance, have been in service since the 1970s, while the Gulfstream jet has been operating since the mid-1990s. While they have been retrofitted and repaired, flying through a hurricane can be grueling — for both the crews and the planes.
My partner used to work as a coordinator for these missions. The P-3s are awesome but as the article states a dying bird. There are also few folks who know how to fly them. They get shuffled...
My partner used to work as a coordinator for these missions. The P-3s are awesome but as the article states a dying bird. There are also few folks who know how to fly them. They get shuffled around from agency to agency and all loved working for NASA and NOAA.
These planes seem pretty amazing
But
My partner used to work as a coordinator for these missions. The P-3s are awesome but as the article states a dying bird. There are also few folks who know how to fly them. They get shuffled around from agency to agency and all loved working for NASA and NOAA.