KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Reserve Citizen Airmen have been collecting life saving data in the center of hurricane Irma since Sept. 4 and will add 2 more hurricanes starting tomorrow.
This is the first time in seven years the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters have flown 3 hurricanes simultaneously.
The critical data collected by the Reserve Citizen Airmen of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron contributes to the National Hurricane Center's ability to determine the direction and intensity of these three storms. At category 5, Irma is the most intense with wind speeds above 180 miles per hour. Katia and Jose are currently both Category 1 storms with wind speeds between 80 and 90 miles per hour.
A crew made up of at least two pilots, a navigator, an aerial reconnaissance weather officer and a loadmaster flies each storm mission. During each pass through the eye, the loadmaster releases a dropsonde that measures wind speed and direction, temperature, dew point and pressure. Data collected by the dropsondes, a Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer and visual observations by the ARWO is then transmitted to the National Hurricane Center every ten minutes throughout the duration of the mission.
Many of the Reserve Citizen Airmen who call themselves Hurricane Hunters travel from around the country to be a part of the mission and only a small percent of the squadron are full time air reserve technicians. The rest are traditional reservists who show up when called and put their civilian jobs and their home lives on hold to fly into storms.
The Hurricane Hunters will continue to fly and collect data until the storms make landfall. To stay up to date on the most current forecast and tasked missions visit
https://www.403wg.afrc.af.mil/media/hurricane-center
Please contact 403rd Wing Public Affairs at 403wg.pa2@us.af.mil for more information regarding this release or other 403rd Wing activities. Air Force Reserve Command is on the web at: http://www.afrc.af.mil/.