megapanalo Up In the Air With the Hurricane Hunters

There is no in-flight entertainmentmegapanalo, and yet my hosts in blue flight suits tell me to prepare for a show. I have been briefed to avoid gassy foods, and the sick sack is pointed out to me.

I am about to take flight aboard one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s hurricane hunter aircraft, nicknamed Kermit. It’s one of two WP-3D Orion turboprop airplanes that NOAA operates out of Lakeland, Fla. Kermit is older than me, having flown through its first hurricane in 1976, and it has the names of over a hundred hurricanes painted on its belly.

The Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and NOAA operate hurricane hunter planes that fly into or over active storms. One of theirs will be in the storm at the same time as Kermit, but flying at 5,000 feet while we cruise around 10,000 feet. Another, an upper-altitude plane, called Gonzo, will be flying even higher above us, surveying the upper-level winds of the storm.

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