Hurricane Hunters Brace for Summer of Flying Into Eye of Storms

In a post-Beryl lull at Central Florida HQ, pilots and standby crews prepare for the next ‘roller coaster through a washing machine’ mission.

A U.S. HC-C130J aircraft, carrying Hurricane Hunters, approaches the edge of Hurricane Florence after a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Savannah Air National Guard Base, Ga., on Sept. 12, 2018. U.S. Air Force via Getty Images

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Hurricane Hunters Brace for Summer of Flying Into Eye of Storms

In a post-Beryl lull at Central Florida HQ, pilots and standby crews prepare for the next ‘roller coaster through a washing machine’ mission.

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By John Haughey

July 18, 2024Updated:July 30, 2024

LAKELAND, Fla.—They didn’t need to chase this storm or hunt this hurricane, it was already there—bigger and worse than anything seen before at this time of year and this far out in the Atlantic.

Cmdr. Brett Copare knew he was flying into history on June 30 as he steered the P-3 Orion “Kermit” nose-first into a churning wall of towering thunderheads ringing a 450-mile maelstrom that was but a radar flyspeck 48 hours earlier.

Hurricane Hunters Brace for Summer of Flying Into Eye of Storms

Hurricane Hunters Brace for Summer of Flying Into Eye of Storms

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