Hurricane Hunters support Air Force DSCA mission

  • Published
  • By Carol Carpenter
  • AFNORTH Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  One of the first things Air Force Reserve Command Hurricane Hunter crew members learn about their job ― flying airplanes into hurricanes and other storms to collect weather data ― is to downplay fear.

Lt. Col. Ty Piercefield is a Hurricane Hunter aircraft commander and pilot of WC-130J "Super Hercules" aircraft with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. The "Super Hercules" is used for Hurricane Hunter missions.

He is currently serving an air and space expeditionary force tour at the 601st Air & Space Operations Center at Tyndall. Among other things, the AOC provides command and control functions for Hurricane Hunter flights, which are part of the Continental U.S. NORAD Region - 1st Air Force (Air Forces Northern) Defense Support of Civil Authorities mission.

A member of the Air Force Reserve, Colonel Piercefield learned an important lesson about calming his fears during his first flight into a major hurricane in 1998. An acting co-pilot on that particular flight, he and four other crew members flew a dangerous mission at night into the eye of Hurricane Georges, a major Category 5 storm brewing in the Atlantic.

Colonel Piercefield describes the memorable but frightening experience of the plane being buffeted by high winds and pounding hail as it neared the storm's center.

"As the plane broke through the storm's intense and turbulent eye wall, suddenly the winds died and the plane was surrounded by a tight, circular 'stadium' of towering clouds that were illuminated by the bright moon, stars and bolts of lightning," he said.

"Although it was beautiful outside, red lights in the cockpit alerted us that the violent hail we had just flown through had destroyed an oil cooler in our number one engine. We had to shut the engine down and fly out on three engines," the colonel said. "Thankfully, we made it home OK."

He remembers briefly wondering what he had gotten himself into.

"One of our experienced weather officers soon got me into the habit of saying, 'We never really get scared, just sometimes concerned,'" Colonel Piercefield said. He decided the veteran officer's advice was the only sane way to focus on a potentially dangerous job that needed to be done.

In the 12 years since that first harrowing incident, Colonel Piercefield and other Hurricane Hunter colleagues have worked together on numerous storm reconnaissance, surveillance and research missions for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center and also the Department of Defense and Air Force.

Primarily tasked in the summer and fall Atlantic hurricane season to gather crucial and predictive weather information for hurricanes, cyclones and tropical storms, they also fly winter storm missions along the east and west coasts, including Hawaii and Alaska.

During winter flights, Hurricane Hunter aircraft serve as flying weather stations that release "dropsondes." These are long cardboard tubes packed with weather instruments. They gather and transmit storm data to NOAA's Environmental Modeling Center, a weather and climate forecasting system.

Along with Colonel Piercefield, Lt. Col. John Loughrey, another Hurricane Hunter pilot, is also currently serving an AEF tour at the 601st AOC, where they perform as tanker and airlift duty officers.

Maj. Tony Jones, the unique missions support team chief at the AOC, said the AOC receives all requests for Hurricane Hunter support from NOAA through the Air Force Reserve Command's 403rd Wing. They are the parent unit of the 53rd WRS.

The Hurricane Hunter mission provides more accurate information about a storm's intensity and location, Major Jones said. This contributes to public safety, more timely evacuations and also helps save money.

"The National Hurricane Center says the data collected by Hurricane Hunters makes forecasts 25 to 30 percent more accurate," he said. "It costs in excess of $1 million per U.S. coastal mile to evacuate for a storm. By increasing the accuracy of storm prediction, millions of dollars are saved per storm."