It rips apart everything in its path. It destroys houses,
businesses, lives and families. These past couple of weeks, America
has been greatly devastated by it.
Capt. Jeff Wright, a U-2S aircraft commander with the 99th
Reconnaissance Squadron, is one of few Airmen who was able to see
the vast devastation of Hurricane Katrina from a bird’s point
of view.
Captain Wright flew a U-2 to take pictures of alternate routes
out of cities where citizens were trying to evacuate. The pictures
were developed here and later sent to the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
Hurricane Katrina is not Captain Wright’s first hurricane.
He has flown into the “eye” of more than 60 hurricanes
and tropical storms.
From 1996 through 2002, Captain Wright was part of Hurricane
Hunters, the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Reserve Squadron at
Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.
He flew into Hurricane
Mitch, the 1998 hurricane that devastated much of Central America
and killed about 10,000 people, as well as Hurricane Francis, which
destroyed many parts of Florida in 2004.
The Air Force Reserve group of pilots flies
information-gathering missions into the center of hurricanes and
tropical storms.
They collect information such as a storm’s wind speed,
pressure, center, temperature and humidity. This data is used to
narrow the area of evacuation to save money and lives. For every
one-mile radius that is evacuated, expenses total to about $1
million, Captain Wright said.
“It’s sad when there is nothing you can do,”
he said. By obtaining useful information about the storm, pilots
help relief efforts greatly, he said
The Hurricane Hunter pilots fly aboard a WC-130 Hercules. The
WC-130 Hercules is a high-wing, medium-range aircraft flown by the
Air Force Reserve Command for weather reconnaissance missions.
Sensors installed on the aircraft measure per second outside
temperature, humidity, absolute altitude of the aircraft, pressure
altitude, wind speed and direction. This information, along with an
evaluation of other meteorological conditions, turbulence, icing,
radar returns and visibility, is encoded by the onboard
meteorologist and transmitted by satellite to the National Weather
Services' National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Unfortunately, natural disasters will continue to destroy many
lives and lands. But Hurricane Hunger efforts minimize the damage
by providing enhanced warning of the storm and in-depth facts about
it. [ANN Salutes Airman 1st Class Robert Biermann, 9th
Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs]