The "Flying Through The Eye Of The Storm" Story

It was an ordinary day. There was a really big plane that landed at Princes Juliana International Airport (PJIA) in Sint Maarten the other day. A US Airforce C-130. The C-130 is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport aircraft. The versatile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles, including as a gunship for airborne assault, search and rescue, scientific research support, weather reconnaissance, aerial refueling, maritime patrol and aerial firefighting. The reason it landed at PJIA was to allow school children a first-hand look at the aircraft which is now being used to hunt hurricanes. How impressive would that be if you were a school student of any age. Walking into the belly of this massive plane would impress anyone no matter what age. The 25-man crew arrived in Sint Maarten as part of a USA-Caribbean Hurricane Awareness Tour. The tour will hopefully build a bond between the meteorological Department of St. Maarten and the USA National hurricane Center. They hope to let everyone know what the "Hurricane Hunter" does and the different services that they can provide as they fly through a storm. The data that is gathered during their hurricane reconnaissance will allow St. Maarten, and all the islands throughout the Caribbean, to learn the strength and direction that it is traveling. The members of the "Hurricane Hunter" explained that only five people - two pilots, a navigator, weather officer and a weather loadmaster - are needed for a standard reconnaissance when investigating storms. If the mission would take more than eight hours, an extra pilot would be included. The US Airforce has ten "Hurricane Hunter" C-130s that can be deployed when a storm is beginning to form. The National Hurricane Center will send the C-130 to investigate whether the winds are blowing in a counterclockwise rotation therefore indicating a “closed system”. This mission is flown from 500 - 1500 feet above the ocean surface; the plane will constantly monitor the ocean waves in order to determine the wind speed and direction from the sea state. The low-level wind and pressure fields will provide an accurate snapshot for the Hurricane Center Forecasters. This particular plane that landed at PJIA departed from Mississippi, landing in Miami to pick up personnel from the National Hurricane Center, then stopped in Mexico and Costa Rica before arriving in Sint Maarten. The planes stop on different islands each year to build hurricane awareness throughout the Caribbean. I am amazed that a plane as large as the C-130 can penetrate a tropical storm or hurricane, or even land on some of the Caribbean runways. Here's hoping that they can alert any island that may be in the path of a tropical storm or hurricane before life is in danger. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.