Hurricane hunters?

The site is down at the moment, but if I'm understanding it correctly, do
these guys actually penetrate hurricanes in P3s and Gulfstreams?

Do they go IMC flying into hurricane cloud???

If so, how the hell are they not constantly stalling as they are buffetted
by the turbulence? I'm pretty sure that they'd slow down to maneuvering
speed, and I'd assume that there'd be moments when windshear would be
drastic

How the hell are these flights even technically possible??

Yup... They do shake, rattle, and roll

"xerj" wrote
The site is down at the moment, but if I'm understanding it correctly,
do these guys actually penetrate hurricanes in P3s and Gulfstreams?
Do they go IMC flying into hurricane cloud???

Yes, although I was not a "Hurricane Hunter", while on patrol in the
Taiwan Strait, I did fly through a hurricane (typhoon) at an altitude
of about 500'. Yes, it was rough! Yes, we were IMC a lot of the time.
Yes, there are a lot better things to do for a living with an airplane.
Yes, I have friends who flew for the "Hurricane Hunters" after they
left the Navy. No, I don't want to do that again.

Bob Moore
A US Navy LT back then in 1967
VP-46

Bob Moore wrote:

Yes, there are a lot better things to do for a living with an airplane.

As far as I know, over all those years of "hurricane hunting", there has
never been an accident.

Stefan

Stefan wrote:

As far as I know, over all those years of "hurricane hunting", there has
never been an accident.

Stefan

I think there was one, but I don't remember when or details. I perused
the "Hurricane Hunters" site in depth last year, and as I recall, there
is an optimum altitude for eyewall penetration to avoid worst
conditions. 5- 10 thousand feet maybe.

Amazing young men in their flying machines!

~D

Stefan wrote:
Bob Moore wrote:

Yes, there are a lot better things to do for a living with an airplane.


As far as I know, over all those years of "hurricane hunting", there has
never been an accident.

There have been several fatal accidents. Check the left column in:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurr...rricanes_x.htm

Stubby wrote:

There have been several fatal accidents. Check the left column in:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurr...rricanes_x.htm

I stand corrected: In the last 50 years, there was one accident. This
last accident has been thirty years ago.

Of course it needs a lot of courage and knowledge to undertake such a
flight.

Stefan

Stefan wrote:
Stubby wrote:

There have been several fatal accidents. Check the left column in:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurr...rricanes_x.htm



I stand corrected: In the last 50 years, there was one accident. This
last accident has been thirty years ago.

Please read the cited article. 4 flights, 34 men lost:

Fatal flights

Since the first hurricane flights in 1944, four airplanes have gone down
in storms. All of the men aboard the four airplanes were lost.

Oct. 26, 1952: An Air Force WB-29 was lost in Typhoon Wilma over the
Pacific with 10 men aboard.
Sept. 26, 1955: A Navy P-2V-5F disappeared in Hurricane Janet over the
Caribbean Sea with nine Navy men and two Canadian journalists aboard.
Jan. 15, 1958: An Air Force WB-50 disappeared southeast of Guam while
flying into Super Typhoon Ophelia with nine men aboard.
Oct. 12, 1974: An Air Force WC-130 went down in Typhoon Bess over the
South China Sea with six men aboard. Search airplanes picked up signals
from a crash-location radio beacon and reported seeing seat cushions and
oxygen bottles, which could have been from the airplane, in the water

Source: Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth by
Dr. Bob Sheets and Jack Williams.

I did fly through a hurricane (typhoon) at an altitude
of about 500'. Yes, it was rough! Yes, we were IMC a lot of the time.

Back in the early '50s, before wx radar, we blundered into a hurricane
in an R5C (C-46). Flew right through the eye. We were probably at
around 10,000' altitude.

It was not especially rough, but we had extreme rain that was causing
problems with the Curtiss electric props and causing the fire warning
light to light up.

It took an unbelievable anount of drift correction to stay on the A-N
range leg, and after the eye, an equally unbelievable amount in the
opposite direction. We still didn't recognize that we were in a
hurricane, till we were told after we landed.

vince norris

vincent p. norris wrote:
I did fly through a hurricane (typhoon) at an altitude
of about 500'. Yes, it was rough! Yes, we were IMC a lot of the time.

Back in the early '50s, before wx radar, we blundered into a hurricane
in an R5C (C-46). Flew right through the eye. We were probably at
around 10,000' altitude.



My dad has a ton of C-46 time. He was in a troop carrier squadron based out of
Tachikawa, Japan during the Korean War until 1955.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE