TYB
PF did some diggz and found that it was USAF C-130 96-5300 that was struck by lightning SE of Galveston. Got their radar knocked offline and had to abort their mission. Area circled in red on ADS-B flight track log. And a little back story on how the first Hurricane Hunter flight was conceived. Spoiler alert: It involved pilotsd and drinikng, kek.
HISTORY:
It all started in 1943 as abar room dare, when two Army Air Corps pilots challenged each other to fly through a hurricane.On July 27, 1943, Maj. Joe Duckworth flew a propeller-driven, single-engine North American AT-6 "Texan" trainer into the eye of a hurricane. Major Duckworth flew into the eye of that storm twice that day, once with a navigator and again with a weather officer. These were generally considered to be the first airborne attempts to obtain data for use in plotting the position of a tropical cyclone as it approached land. Duckworth's pioneering efforts paved the way for further flights into tropical cyclones.
https://www.403wg.afrc.af.mil/About/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/192529/53rd-weather-reconnaissance-squadron-hurricane-hunters/
Hurricane Hunters
@53rdWRS
Some of you are asking about our recent mission, and, unfortunately, our aircraft was struck by lightning causing our radar systems to go down.
Safety is our utmost priority in these situations, so our mission was halted and the next is slated for this evening.
7:33 AM · Sep 18, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
https://twitter.com/53rdWRS/status/1306934300986822659
Hurricane Hunters
@53rdWRS
You know that scene in Titanic where Rose throws the necklace back into the ocean? This is like that but also there’s a hurricane eye and a @USAFReserve aircraft and science.
Here are some highlights from our flight into Hurricane #Teddy today.
9:05 PM · Sep 17, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
https://twitter.com/53rdWRS/status/1306776215555133442
Lightning strike halts Hurricane Hunter mission during Tropical Depression 22 survey
A Friday morning Hurricane Hunter mission over the Gulf of Mexico to survey Tropical Depression 22 was cut short after lightning struck the aircraft.
It happened somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico as the Lockheed WC-130J Hercules was gathering data from the disturbance.
"Safety is our utmost priority in these situations, so our mission was halted and the next is slated for this evening," the U.S. Air Force Reserve 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron tweeted.
The aircraft is part of a fleet that collects data about storms to help with forecast accuracy.
As they soar through the tropical systems, the hurricane hunters drop scientific instruments known as dropwindsondes into the storm. The dropwindsondes are equipped with sensors that continuously measure pressure, humidity, temperature, and wind direction and speed as they plunge toward the sea. Additional sensors can be used to measure water temperature in the ocean.
The aircraft left Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi overnight, but turned back around 4:45 a.m. approximately 260 miles south-southeast of Galveston, according to flight tracking data.
Friday's mission was at least the second in two days as crews tracked the disturbance, which was observed as a closed low level circulation that could strengthen to become a Tropical Storm sometime Friday.
The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron operates 10 Lockheed WC-130J aircraft, which typically fly into storms at altitudes between 500 feet and 10,000 feet.
The Air Force Reserve isn't alone in conducting survey missions. NOAA Hurricane Hunters are manned by a civilian staff based in Florida and also track tropical disturbances.
While using aircraft to survey storms is a common practice, the idea may have originated in Galveston in the 1930's with an idea fromCapt. W.L. Farnsworth.
https://abc13.com/hurricane-hunter-lightning-strike-noaa-hunters-science/6437464/