How Air Force, NOAA pilots keep South Florida prepared during hurricane season

As hurricane season kicks off, U.S. Air Force and NOAA pilots are going through all the pre-flight checks on their fleet of Hurricane Hunter aircrafts. 

The Air Force's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance squadron flies 10 Super Hercules aircraft out of Biloxi, Mississippi. NOAA pilots fly three more specialized jets out of a base in Lakeland. All of the aircraft collect real-time data used for focusing on a hurricane's track. 

"These aircraft can fly directly into a tropical storm or hurricane and provide us direct measurements of how strong a storm is. How big it is and tell us where it's located," said Michael Brennan, Director of the National Hurricane Center.

The Super Hercules aircrafts cost $80 million each. They are known amongst meteorologists as flying laboratories that plunge into the strongest winds of category three, four and five hurricanes. 

"The temperature, humidity, wind speed and the pressure. When were in the center of the hurricane, that's vital information the hurricane center is looking for," said Major Joyce Hirai, U.S. Air Force Reserves Weather Officer. 

"That data comes back to us in real time for our forecasters to look at the hurricane center.  It also goes into the forecast models so we can tell you where it is going to go and how strong it's going to be," said Brennan.

The winds are the strongest in the eyewall and are used to determine the category strength of the storm. The eyewall winds provide for more than a bumpy ride. 

"The eyewall is really intense. Lots of wind and rain, turbulence, lightning, and hail. You hit the eyewall and the airplane is getting beat up," said Jordan Mentzer, a Hurricane Hunter pilot.

The hurricane hunter planes are normally cargo planes that are temporarily outfitted with meteorological equipment, including a dropsonde station. 

It is a key tool used to track hurricanes in real-time and is the size of a paper towel roll. 

The tracking device is dropped through a tube out of the aircrafts floor and falls through the storm clouds. As it drops, a parachute pops open and slows its decent. While dropping to Earth, it collects the storms' wind speed and pressure and transmits that back to the aircraft.  The data is reviewed and then fowarded to the National Hurricane Center for use in its forecasts. 

The Hurricane Hunter fleet is standing by to be deployed this season if any storms approach the United States.