The brave men and woman onboard NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter airplanes need to remain cool, calm and collected during extreme conditions while flying into some of the most intense storms on Earth.
And while every single mission faces its own challenges, some missions have faced historic intensity. Here’s a look at just some of those missions and what those Hurricane Hunters face in the eye of the storm.
Hurricane Melissa rocks Hurricane Hunter flights
During their coverage in the storm’s eyewall at landfall, Hurricane Hunters experienced extreme turbulence and were forced to depart from the hurricane prematurely.
If you’re reading this and thinking to yourself: “How intense does it get on Hurricane Hunter airplanes?” just think about this for a second.
Most recently, catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Melissa ravaged Jamaica by bringing 185 mph winds and flooding rain to the Caribbean island nation.
Hurricane Hunters fly into Hurricane Melissa
(NOAA)
And before the storm made its deadly landfall, Hurricane Hunters flew into the beast to gather important data as it was rapidly intensifying.
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However, two of those missions were forced to turn back and land after the flight experienced severe turbulence while trying to learn more about the storm.
Hurricane Hunter says crew got ‘rocked’ during mission inside Hurricane Ian
FILE VIDEO – NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters fly into Hurricane Ian on September 25 and gathers data from center of the storm. (Video: Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Doremus, NOAA Corps)
Hurricane Ian slammed Florida back in 2022, and Hurricane Hunters continued to fly into the storm as it was approaching its landfall along the Sunshine State’s Gulf Coast.
And it wasn’t an easy mission by any means.
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Hurricane Hunter Pilot Maj. Kendall Dunn with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron described the flight as one of the roughest of his career.
“The storm was rapidly intensifying,” Dunn said. “We made a shot to come through the eyewall, but the rain was so intense that the radar was only just seeing beyond our nose.”
Hurricane Hunter Pilot Maj. Kendall Dunn with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron described a flight into Category 4 Hurricane Ian as one of the roughest of his career.
When the pilot did get a clearing to come through the eyewall, they experienced the worst turbulence of Dunn’s career.
“We got rocked,” Dunn said. “The aircraft was basically overmatched at one point. We were max-power, trying to gain speed. We were basically diving, losing air. It was a mess. It was the worst thing you could have to happen as a pilot.”
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Equipment goes flying, lightning illuminates Hurricane Hunter aircraft during mission inside Hurricane Milton
NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter aircraft flew 19 missions during Hurricane Milton over nearly 100 hours of flight time. This NOAA video shows some mission highlights as the crews collected critical forecasting data.
Hurricane Milton also devastated parts of Florida when it made landfall south of Tampa Bay in 2024. And before the storm made its landfall, NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters shared some intense video showing what conditions were like inside the airplane as they flew into the hurricane.
The video shows equipment flying through the air as brave scientists remain strapped down into their seats.
NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters had a very bumpy ride piercing the eyewall of Category 5 Hurricane Milton.
The video also shows bright flashes of lightning illuminating the interior of the aircraft as it flew through the storm at night.
Hurricane Hunters began flying into hurricanes way back in 1944 during World War II. And despite the extreme danger, there has only been one aircraft lost.
A Neptune PV-2 in 1953 similar to the Hurricane Hunter lost in 1955 during Hurricane Janet.
(U.S. Navy / FOX Weather)
This past September marked 70 years since a Navy Hurricane Hunter plane carried out a reconnaissance of Hurricane Janet and did not return home.
On Sept. 26, 1955, a crew of nine Americans along with two Canadian news reporters left Guatanamo Naval Air Station aboard a Neptune P2V aircraft, designated Stormcloud Five, and embarked on a journey to intercept a rapidly intensifying Hurricane Janet some 300 miles to the South, according to NOAA.
The crew led by Lt. Cmdr. Grover B. Windham Jr. reported at 8:30 a.m. that the crew was about to begin penetration of the main core of Hurricane Janet in the Caribbean Sea, southeast of Jamaica. No further report was received by the plane. The flight remains the only reconnaissance flight into an Atlantic hurricane ever lost.
