Reservists fly into heart of Hurricane Frances

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ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  As Hurricane Frances bears down on Florida and the coastal residents evacuate, Air Force reservists are flying directly into the storm that everyone else wants to avoid.

Called "Hurricane Hunters," members of Air Force Reserve Command's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., have been flying into Hurricane Frances since Aug. 29.

"Our mission is to collect weather data from the surface to 10,000 feet through the center of one of Mother Nature's fiercest phenomena," said Maj. Chad Gibson, a flight meteorologist. "The information we collect is sent from the plane to the National Hurricane Center via satellite where forecasters use the data to increase forecast accuracy by 25 to 30 percent."

As of 8 a.m., Sept. 2, Hurricane Frances was moving west, northwest toward the Bahamas, according to National Hurricane Center officials. Center workers deemed Frances to be a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale based on reports from the reservists that the storm's maximum sustained winds are near 145 mph with higher gusts.

Since Frances became a full-fledged hurricane, the Air Force Reserve's WC-130H aircraft fly nearly around-the-clock missions out of Keesler AFB and St. Croix, Virgin Islands.

Hurricane season for the eastern part of the United States runs from the beginning of June until the end of November. Hurricanes are tropical cyclones that have sustained winds of 74 mph or more. Below this speed, this tropical cyclone is called a tropical storm, and if the winds are less than 39 mph, it is known as a tropical depression.

As of Sept. 2, Frances' hurricane force winds extended up to 80 miles from the center of the storm with tropical storm force winds going out to 185 miles. The storm caused surge flooding of 6 to 14 feet above the normal tide levels along with battering waves striking Eleuthera Island and Grand Bahama Island. Rainfall amounts of 5 to 10 inches and higher were expected with Frances' arrival, according to the National Weather Service reports.

Packed with sophisticated sensors and weather measuring devices, the tough and battle-proven WC-130H aircraft launch every six hours for missions that typically last eight to 12 hours.

"When one plane comes back, another one goes out," said Tech. Sgt. James Pritchett, a spokesman for the 403rd Wing at Keesler AFB.

A typical mission profile includes flying into the building storm at about 1,000 feet above the ocean's surface. During the missions, the aircraft crisscross the hurricane and release small "dropsonde" canisters. Dropped by parachute, these free-floating sensors provide the most accurate measurements of the storm's location and intensity. The canisters send details about barometric pressure, wind speed and direction to the aircraft during their descent until they hit the water.

Squadron Airmen typically devote about 1,100 flying hours tracking weather systems between June and November. Consisting of an aircraft commander, co-pilot, flight engineer, navigator, weather officer and dropsonde operator, the crews fly through rough turbulence and heavy rains during the missions. The heaviest turbulence occurs in the "eye wall," the circular area directly around the hurricane's eye.

After checking the data collected, the crews forward the information they collect directly to the National Hurricane Center.

Six-person crews from the squadron began their first mission of the season July 31. At that time, the first storm of the hurricane season, named Alex, was a tropical depression east of the Bahamas. (Courtesy of AFRC News Service)