The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Aircraft Operations Center (NOAA) has released footage of a plane flying directly into Hurricane Milton. The aircraft named "Miss Piggy" and its crew flew into the storm to collect data for further hurricane research.
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NOAA posted the video on X with the following description: "Bumpy ride into Hurricane #Milton on @NOAA WP-3D Orion #NOAA43 "Miss Piggy" to collect data to help improve the forecast and support hurricane research."
Bumpy ride into Hurricane #Milton on @NOAA WP-3D Orion #NOAA43 "Miss Piggy" to collect data to help improve the forecast and support hurricane research.
— NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (@NOAA_HurrHunter) October 8, 2024
Visit https://t.co/3phpgKNx0q for the latest forecasts and advisories
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The very first shot shows one of the aircraft's wings traversing through the heavy rain and weather. Other than the wing and the apparently infinite water, the storm prevents the camera and the human eye from viewing anything beyond that. Then, the camera shows the interior of the plane, with the crew grabbing anything they can due to the heavy turbulence.
Things began to fall and fly across the aircraft. Nick Underwood, Programs Integration Engineer, jokingly asks Tom Brannigan, Electrical Engineer: "Can you grab my phone real quick?" As soon as Brannigan takes hold of Underwood's phone, more things begin to fall as the aircraft continues to experience turbulence. Underwood just laughs.
Eventually, "Miss Piggy" leaves the storm and the turbulence stops as the sky becomes clearer and the crew members can actually see something other than the aircraft's wings.
'Miss Piggy' And Hurricane Research
To fly into a storm such as Hurricane Milton helps the National Hurricane Center to monitor the storm's characteristics such as its location and speed, enabling more accurate forecasts. "The purpose of these missions is primarily to locate the center of the storm and measure central pressure and surface winds around the eye," said Susan Buchanan, Director of Public Affairs of the National Weather Service to USA Today.
"Miss Piggy" was built around the 1970s and it is one of two WP-3D Orions that the NOAA possesses. The other one is appropriately called "Kermit". According to Greg Bast, a NOAA production controller and flight engineer, the aircraft received the name "Pig" after they altered its appearance in the early 90s.
"We also decided to start calling it 'Miss Piggy,' because the Muppet character is always so fastidious with her appearance," said Bast.
Jonathan Shannon, Public Affairs Specialist for NOAA said the following: "Our NOAA WP-3D Orion aircraft have been flying into storms for almost 50 years."
As the footage became public, several users reacted in various ways, all impressed by the magnitude of the turbulence and feat of flying an aircraft into a storm "I am no longer nervous about commercial turbulence," one user said. "I wonder who the first person was that said out loud 'We should fly a plane directly into the hurricane!'" another one wrote on X.
