A Visit To The Home Of The Hurricane Hunters

For the Thanksgiving holiday this year, I had the opportunity to visit Biloxi, Mississippi - home of my brother Steve, and the famous Hurricane Hunters. The Hurricane Hunters are a branch of the United States Air Force whose mission is to help track hurricanes that appear off the United States coast. The Team flies into the eye of the storm and deploys sensitive tracking instruments to gauge the direction, speed, and intensity of the storm. For more information on the mission of the Hurricane Hunters, follow this link.

In addition to deploying tracking technology for weather, the HH planes are also capable of being re-missioned for use to transport cargo in emergencies. Steve's plane is one of several new models that are nearly completely controlled by computers - a fact that required him to get a non-trivial amount of training.

Steve has overall responsibility for the mechanical and structural integrity of his aircraft, and play's a lead role in the certifying the air-worthiness of the plane. In the pics that I have provided to the right (click on them for a larger view), Steve's aircraft is in "Iso-Dock" - a period when the plane is temporarily taken out of service for regular periodic inspection. That's why in these pictures the plane is shown in various stages of disassembly, particularly the engines.

Take a few minutes and explore these pictures. It's really cool to see one of these great planes up close, and in an environment that is not usually available to the general public! Thanks to Steve for sharing these pictures with us!

You can contact Steve to ask him questions via e-mail at msdreemin@aol.com.