Watch daring pilots fly into Hurricane Irma to collect data on the storm.
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Hurricane Irma has reached sustained winds of 185 mph, so flying can be very dangerous. Most pilots stay on the ground when the weather gets rough, but these guys are not most pilots. These pilots are on the NOAA Hurricane Hunter team and they are flying straight into Hurricane Irma to do research. This footage shows the plane reaching the middle, or eye, of the storm. Wind speeds are greatly diminished in the eye. The pilots are collecting data on the hurricane’s temperature, wind speeds, and barometric pressure. They drop a tool called a “dropsonde” into the storm, which gathers data and transmits it back to the airplane. So far, they have deployed around 30 dropsondes in their surveillance of Hurricane Irma. The data that is collected is crucial for meteorologists to determine the trajectory and power of the storm. With that information, we can help evacuate the proper areas and potentially save many lives.
Read more about their flight: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/09/hurricane-hunter-irma-flight-video-spd/
Watch Daredevils Fly Into a Hurricane for Science | National Geographic
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