How can planes fly through a hurricane?

Question

The NOAA has flights going through Hurricane Milton to collect data – how are these safe?

In: Physics

Answer 1

If you consider how fast planes are flying through the air on a regular flight, planes are barreling through the air at speeds that are far faster than any hurricane.

The average speed of a passenger jet in the air is 460-575 miles per hour. In comparison, the wind speed of a category 5 hurricane (the most severe hurricane) is 157 miles per hour or greater. A plane flying into that wind would only have to slow down a little, if at all, to handle the wind speed of the hurricane.

At ground level, hurricanes are much more destructive, and can carry solid debris in them that can cause major damage in addition to damage caused by wind and rain. That debris is much heavier than air, though, and the hurricane cannot lift it very high off of the ground. At the height that airplanes fly, they are very far away from any solid debris that the hurricane is carrying.