The aircraft and crews attached to these squadrons would penetrate the eye of a hurricane to make on-site observations and to release dropsondes . Aircraft are still used for certain specialized research and weather surveillance purposes. Valuable weather information is obtained from weather reports filed by pilots in flight. Often, these reports alter others to aviation hazards such as turbulence and icing conditions. These reports often provide a direct measure of the wind speed and direction at flight level can be obtained from pilot reports.
Most aircraft have a Pitot tube wind speed indicator.
These aircraft also have various navigation indicators to detect the wind direction. Some commercial airliners on long flights sample atmospheric composition at flight levels in the upper troposphere. Valuable information can be obtained.