53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron The 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron ( AFRC ) , also known by its nickname , Hurricane Hunters , is a flying unit of the United States Air Force , and " the only Department of Defense organization still flying into tropical storms and hurricanes . " Aligned under the 403d Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command ( AFRC ) and based at Keesler Air Force Base , Mississippi , it flies aircraft into tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean , the Caribbean Sea , the Gulf of Mexico and the Central Pacific Ocean for the specific purpose of directly measuring weather data in and around those storms . The 53d WRS currently operates the Lockheed WC - 130J aircraft as its weather data collection platform . The squadron was activated in 1944 during World War II as the 3rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron , tracking weather in the North Atlantic between North America and Europe . Redesignated the 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron in 1945 , the term " Hurricane Hunters " was first applied to its activities in 1946 . The 53d became a part of the USAF before its inactivation in 1947 , was reactivated in 1951 as a long range weather reconnaissance unit based in Bermuda and England , and since 1963 has been based in the southern United States or Puerto Rico with its primary mission the measurement of tropical cyclones . The 53d WRS moved to its present home station at Keesler AFB in 1973 , and after being briefly inactivated again between 1991 and 1993 , became an Air Force Reserve unit . The Hurricane Hunters of the Air Force Reserve are distinct from those of the Department of Commerce ' s NOAA Hurricane Hunters , based at MacDill AFB , Florida , which uses Lockheed WP - 3D Orion and Gulfstream IV - SP aircraft for weather reconnaissance , data collection and scientific research missions . In accordance with its memorandum of agreement with NOAA , AFRC maintains a capability in the 53d WRS for five sorties per day from its home station and two deployed locations in support of requirements for the National Hurricane Operations Plan , or two sorties a day during winter storm seasons . The 53d also provides a subunit , the Chief , Aerial Reconnaissance Coordination , All Hurricanes ( " CARCAH " ) , at the National Hurricane Center to coordinate the activities of both organizations . Concurrent with its operational mission , the 53d WRS is also tasked with recruiting , organizing and training assigned personnel to perform aerial weather reconnaissance , and its air crews are qualified to handle tactical airlift missions . History . Operational history . The 1943 Surprise Hurricane , which struck Houston during World War II , marked the first intentional meteorological flight into a hurricane . That summer , British pilots being trained as instrument instructor pilots at Bryan Army Airfield heard that the school was evacuating its AT - 6 Texan trainers in the face of the oncoming hurricane , and began teasing their instructors about the airworthiness of the aircraft . Instrument flying school commander USAAF Lt . Col . Joseph B . Duckworth , a former airline pilot with Eastern Airlines who had developed instrument procedures for the carrier , bet his RAF students that he could safely fly into the storm and return . On 27 July 1943 he took out one of the trainers with 2nd Lt Ralph M . O ' Hair navigating and flew it straight into the eye of the storm . After he returned safely , the base ' s only weather officer , 1st Lt William H . Jones - Burdick , took over the navigator ' s seat and Duckworth flew into the storm ( now over land ) a second time , this time recording their observations and measuring temperatures within the storm . The flights demonstrated that hurricane reconnaissance flights were feasible . 24 days later , on 19 August 1943 , the AAF weather station at Waller Field , Trinidad , recorded unusually low pressures and received a similar report from Beane Field on Saint Lucia . Together with a report of high winds to the east from a U . S . Navy aircraft landing at Naval Operating Base Trinidad , the data prompted the first weather reconnaissance mission to locate a previously unreported tropical disturbance , which was flown the next morning . The flight , made by a B - 25 Mitchell medium bomber assigned to the 25th Bombardment Group ( an anti - submarine unit at nearby Edinburgh Field ) , proceeded from Waller to Barbados and then due east at altitudes between and into the heart of Hurricane III of 1943 . Using standard navigational position fixes , the mission plotted observations inflight on a chart as they proceeded and transmitted them to Beane Field for relay to Waller and Borinquen Field , Puerto Rico . The 53d WRS was originally activated in 1944 at Presque Isle Army Airfield , Maine , as the 3 WRS . Many of its missions were flown from a forward base at Gander , Newfoundland , using B - 25s . Its original mission was to fly weather tracks along aircraft ferry routes between North America and Allied Western Europe . During the 1946 season , when the 53d WRS acquired the RB - 29 ( later WB - 29 ) Superfortress as its primary aircraft , the term " Hurricane Hunters " was first used to describe its missions . While not an ideal weather reconnaissance platform , the WB - 29 proved to be comparatively safe and reliable . The first medium level penetration of a hurricane took place on 19 October 1947 by an RB - 29 of the 53d WRS into Hurricane Love near Bermuda , validating penetration of tropical storms at lower altitudes as reasonably safe . From Gander , the squadron moved to New Hampshire ; Florida ; Kindley Field , Bermuda ; RAF Burtonwood , England , with forward basing at Dhahran , Saudi Arabia ; Bermuda for a short time , and Hunter AFB , Georgia . In 1966 , now flying the Lockheed WC - 130 , the 53d WRS once again left the United States , this time for Ramey AFB , Puerto Rico . When Ramey closed in 1973 , the Hurricane Hunters relocated to their present location at Keesler AFB , Mississippi . On 18 September 1953 , while based at Kindley AFB , Bermuda , the squadron suffered its only mission - related loss of an aircraft , a WB - 29 . Returning to base with a runaway propeller on the inboard engine of the right wing , the propeller separated from its shaft and struck the engine beside it , causing both the wing and outboard engine to catch fire . The pilot ordered an immediate bailout , but the aircraft went out of control and only three of the 10 - man crew survived . In 1976 , the 815th Tactical Airlift Squadron of the Air Force Reserve , also based at Keesler , was redesignated the 815th Weather Squadron " Storm Trackers " and served as an associate squadron to the 53d until 1987 , when the 815th reverted to a tactical airlift unit . The Regular Air Force ' s 53d WRS was inactivated in June 1991 for budgetary reasons and its mission assumed by the 815th TAS , which continued its airlift role as well . On 1 November 1993 , the 53d WRS was reactivated as an Air Force Reserve squadron to take over the weather reconnaissance mission from the 815th AS . The WC - 130H airframes flown by the 53d WRS were originally built in 1964 – 65 as C - 130Es . 1992 ' s Hurricane Andrew demonstrated a need for upgraded models to continue the mission , and funding for ten replacements was authorized by Congress in FY1998 . On 11 October 1999 , the 53d WRS received its first WC - 130J , and flew its first hurricane mission in the new model on 16 November , into Hurricane Lenny . Problems with the new model , primarily damage to its composite material 6 - bladed propellers from hail and ice and a lack of sensitivity in its color radar images , delayed its Initial Operational Capability until just before the 2005 hurricane season . The propeller problem was overcome by bonding a metal sleeve to the leading edge of each blade and the radar issue by changes in the radar software coding . While in conversion to the new airframe , the unit continued its mission of aerial weather reconnaissance and added a new weather - related mission type in 2003 , using the WC - 130Js to drop buoys ahead of impending tropical storms . In 2004 , the unit started training to support tactical airlift missions in addition to its weather mission . The landfall of Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005 caused devastating damage to Keesler . An estimated one - third of the members of the parent 403d Wing lost a home or had it extensively damaged . Yet the equipment and personnel of the squadron , flying out of Dobbins Air Reserve Base near Atlanta , Georgia when the hurricane struck , never missed a tasked mission during Katrina or followup storms . The operations of the 53d WRS were affected by the federal budget sequestration of 2013 . Furloughs of personnel , amounting to two days in every pay period per member , resulted in a 20 % cut in capability , according to the wing commander of the 403d Wing on 24 July 2013 . In practice this meant the squadron would be capable of working only two storms simultaneously at full mission scheduling instead of the normal three , and that pace sustainable only for five or six days . Further demands on the squadron within the same period would result in prioritizing storms or flying fewer missions in tracking the systems . Hurricane Hunter mission . The 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron , using the call sign " Teal " , flies missions into hurricanes and weather systems for research purposes and observation . Although satellite data has revolutionized weather forecasters ' ability to detect early signs of tropical cyclones before they form , there are still many important tasks for which this information is not suitable . Satellites cannot determine the interior barometric pressure of a hurricane , nor provide accurate wind speed information . These data are needed to accurately predict hurricane development and movement . Because satellites cannot collect the data and ships are too slow and vulnerable , the only viable way to collect this information is with aircraft . Meteorological parameters measured , in order of priority , are : The 53d WRS is equipped with ten pallet - instrumented WC - 130J aircraft to collect the required meteorological data . The area of responsibility for the " Hurricane Hunters " is from midway through the Atlantic Ocean west to the Hawaiian Islands , although they have also been tasked to fly into typhoons in the Pacific Ocean on occasion , as well as gather data in winter storms . The Hurricane Hunters are tasked to support 24 - hour a day continuous operations with the ability to fly up to 3 storms at a time with a response time of 16 hours . This necessitates a mission organization of ten full - time aircrews and ten part - time . Crews train twice monthly at Keesler AFB and fly weather recon missions when available . The WC - 130J employs a standard five person crew element of a pilot , co - pilot , navigator , aerial reconnaissance weather officer ( ARWO ) , and a weather loadmaster / dropsonde operator , with a second loadmaster assigned when required . The ARWO is the flight meteorologist and acts as flight director inside the storm system . The 53d WRS uses Henry E . Rohlsen Airport on St . Croix as its primary forward - deployed location for North Atlantic basin operations . Each May since 1996 , when it switched operations from Antigua to the U . S . Virgin Islands to operate from U . S . soil , the squadron prepositions maintenance equipment and materiel at Rohlsen in preparation for the coming season . From July through September three crews are commonly forward - deployed to St . Croix at any given time with rotations of a week ' s deployment per month . Since 1969 , the 53d WRS also performs winter storm weather reconnaissance off both coasts of the United States between 1 November and 15 April in support of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction . These missions are flown at the WC - 130 ' s service ceiling of , which subjects them to turbulence , lightning and icing . The crews collect data ahead of weather systems , dropping weather buoy s along their routes , before they move off the eastern seaboard to help determine if the conditions are right to intensify into Nor ' easter blizzards . In 1997 and 1998 , the Hurricane Hunters also flew winter storms in the Gulf of Alaska . The predetermined tracks are six to eleven hours in duration , with one to three missions flown per major winter storm event . Coverage of winter storms in the eastern Pacific has become standard during the month of February , operating TDY from either Elmendorf AFB , Alaska , or Hickam AFB , Hawaii . The 53d WRS works closely with the National Hurricane Center ( NHC ) , a division of the National Weather Service ( NWS ) located in Miami , that tracks hurricanes to provide early warning service for Atlantic basin storms . It maintains a subunit , the " Chief , Aerial Reconnaissance Coordination , All Hurricanes " ( CARCAH ) , at the NHC as a point - of - contact and provides the staff and equipment to coordinate Department of Commerce requirements for hurricane data , assign weather reconnaissance missions and monitor all data transmitted from weather reconnaissance aircraft of DOC and the 53d WRS . To that end CARCAH is responsible for producing , publishing , and coordinating the Tropical Cyclone Plan of the Day ( TCPOD ) during hurricane season . The 53d WRS maintains similarly configured satellite communications ground station s within CARCAH at the NHC and its facility at Keesler to receive and process data from the aircraft . The Keesler ground station is maintained as a backup to the primary system at NHC , which has greater data stream ing capability , and would be manned by CARCAH personnel in the event of a long - term satellite communications failure at NHC . During temporary outages , 53d personnel at Keesler act as operators and relay data from the aircraft by land line to the CARCAH ground station . Processed data is transmitted to the Weather Product Management and Distribution System ( WPMDS ) of the Air Force Weather Agency at Offutt AFB , Nebraska , which then relays it to the NWS Telecommunication Gateway at Silver Spring , Maryland , for worldwide distribution . The Keesler site has direct communications capability with WPMDS in the event of land line / internet failure between Keesler and the NHC . The system also provides backup transmission paths to WPMDS using local NHC servers and satellite connection to Keesler in the event of internet outages , except if an outage originates at Offutt . Tropical cyclone operational profiles . When a tropical disturbance becomes suspect for development as a tropical or subtropical cyclone , the NHC assigns the system a temporary tracking ( " Investigation " ) number and requests the 53d WRS to investigate if the winds are blowing in a counterclockwise rotation , indicating a " closed system " . This investigative mission is flown at an altitude of – above the ocean surface in a pattern designated by the ARWO aboard the mission WC - 130 based on observed conditions . The ARWO , using a stepped - frequency microwave radiometer ( SFMR , or " smurf " ) , continuously monitors ocean waves to determine wind speed and direction . The low - level wind and pressure fields provide an accurate picture for NHC forecasters . Once NHC determines that there is circulation within the disturbance , the mission becomes a sequentially - numbered " fix " mission , conducted initially every six hours by rotating flights in cooperation with NOAA missions , and then at three - hour intervals as the storm moves within specified parameters . During the " fix " mission , the ARWO directs the aircraft to the true center of the storm . In order to make a reliable evaluation of the size and configuration of the storm , the crew flies through it using " Flight Pattern Alpha " consisting of intercardinal headings with legs in length . The Alpha pattern is repeated at least twice during the mission , which will typically see a penetration of the eye of the system four times . Patterns may also be adjusted to meet circumstances encountered in the system . In August 2011 , as Hurricane Irene neared the Delmarva Peninsula between landfalls , a 53d WRS ARWO directed a pattern with shorter legs and more rapid turnarounds because of the proximity of land , making seven center fixes in one flight . Flight weather data is continuously collected and sent directly to the NHC by satellite communications . Since the WC - 130J is not equipped for aerial refueling , the alpha pattern continues until minimum fuel reserve is reached , or until the NHC has received all the data it requires . Major hurricanes ( category 3 or above ) are entered at approximately altitude . While penetrating the eyewall , a dropsonde is released to determine the maximum winds at the surface and a second dropsonde is released in the eye to detect the lowest pressure at the surface . After exiting the eye , the ARWO creates a Vortex Data Message that includes the precise latitude and longitude of the storm center as well as its maximum winds , maximum temperature , and minimum sea level pressure . The average duration of a " Hurricane Hunter " mission is ten hours , with five to six hours on station , depending on the distance of the storm from base , when tasked to perform three fixes at three - hour intervals . Cable television series . The Weather Channel announced in January 2012 that it would be presenting a six - episode docu - reality series ( " Hurricane Hunters " ) in July 2012 depicting the operations of the 53d WRS during the 2011 hurricane season . However even before its debut , the series and its network were beset by controversy when a 53d WRS member , Major ( then Captain ) Nicole L . Mitchell , an ARWO and an on - camera meteorologist for TWC from July 2004 to January 2011 , revealed on 4 June 2012 that she had filed suit 9 September 2011 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against The Weather Channel and its owners , NBC Universal and two private equity firms , Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group , claiming that the termination of her employment in 2010 was based on her part - time Air Force Reserve service , was discriminatory and was in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act ( USERRA ) of 1994 . A second nine - segment season , filmed in August and October 2012 , aired on The Weather Channel beginning in June 2013 .