These planes can fly low-below 3,000 meters (10,000 feet)-and slow, at 210 knots, while their payload of scientific instrumentation collects data for both immediate forecasting and research projects designed to illuminate how hurricanes work. Kermit and Miss Piggy each have four engine-driven propellers, which receive power instantaneously, helping pilots respond quickly to severe turbulence and a fire hose of precipitation, said Ken Heystek, an Aircraft Operations Center maintenance controller and former flight engineer. Gonzo flies above storms to gather big-picture data. The Muppet-monikered aircraft have been penetrating storm eyewalls for nearly 50 years. In the 1990s, the planes were affectionately styled as Kermit and Miss Piggy. The pair of P-3s first took flight in 19. The design of these planes, commonly referred to as P-3s, is a modified version of the P-3 Orion flown by the Navy, said Commander Adam Abitbol, who has been piloting these planes for NOAA since 2014. Today, NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter fleet includes two Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft, built for the agency in the 1970s. Duckworth took a meteorologist back to the hurricane’s eye that same day to document the feat. When Duckworth and his navigator returned from their adventure in a two-seater, single-engine propeller airplane, nobody believed them, said Jack Parrish, who hunted hurricanes with NOAA for more than 40 years. This was during World War II, so even incoming hurricanes remained top secret as U-boats prowled U.S.
Air Force Colonel Joe Duckworth was the first pilot to fly into a hurricane. “Satellite pictures give us a general idea of a storm’s intensity or center location, but we don’t really know for sure unless a Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance aircraft can fly into the storm.” The same goes for hurricanes,” he explained. But you never really know for sure unless you use a meat thermometer or cut into it. “We can watch a fillet on the grill while it’s cooking and have a fairly good idea of its doneness. Hurricane Hunters collect data that are vital to these forecasting efforts, which can save lives and property. “Hurricane forecasters have the responsibility of assessing and forecasting a hurricane’s location, strength, and size so that we can warn the appropriate people in harm’s way,” said National Hurricane Center senior hurricane specialist Robbie Berg. Holbach flies with NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter aircraft, which ferry scientists directly into the eye of any hurricane encroaching on the United States or partner nations in the Gulf and Caribbean. But between 1 June and 30 November each year, she often can be found high above the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
Eventually, she moved to often sunny, sometimes stormy Florida and obtained undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in meteorology from Florida State University, where she remains.Īs a member of NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, Holbach spends most of her time at a computer, studying storms. To quell her fears, she would watch the Weather Channel to learn more about storms.
When Heather Holbach was a child growing up in Wisconsin, she was terrified of thunderstorms and tornadoes.
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