How are airplanes able to fly into hurricanes to study them?

Question

I’ve been seeing articles and videos about the NOAA “hurricane hunters” who flew into Ian to study it. How is it possible to fly in those conditions?

In: 3

Answer 1

It’s really no different than any airliner that flies with or against the jet stream. Jet stream wind speeds regularly exceed 100mph, and airlines handle it just fine. The air moves as a fluid, and the plane simply moves with it. Sure, it’s bumpy, but the airplane can handle it perfectly safely.

My next door neighbor was a P3 flight engineer in the Navy Hurricane Hunters after Vietnam. He’s told me a lot of his experiences. They most certainly were flying through hurricanes, even 50 years ago in propeller driven aircraft.