A Long Ride

Any Hurricane Hunter will agree that their job entails long hours. In fact, a typical hurricane mission lasts 10-12 hours and involves five end-to-end trips into the eye of the storm in the pursuit of gathering data needed to more accuractly predict its path. Senior Airman Thomas Barnaby, a dropsonde operator with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron's Hurricane Hunters, spends a few minutes of down-time on the long ride to Hurricane Irene gazing from the back window of the aircraft. He also carries some of his favorite reads along with him.