The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Aircraft Operations Center has released a video footage showing a research aircraft experiencing severe turbulence while flying directly into Hurricane Milton.
The video, captured from the passenger side window of “Miss Piggy,” a Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft, shows the plane navigating through a dense, gray sky while being pounded by intense rainfall.
In a post on X, the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center said, “Bumpy ride into Hurricane Milton on NOAA WP-3D Orion.” The agency explained that the purpose of the flight was to gather data for hurricane research and contribute to improving the storm’s forecast. The aircraft carried a team of at least four NOAA researchers on board.
The video footage shows Electrical Engineer Tom Brannigan seated at the AVAPS (Airborne Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System) as the plane experiences loud and violent shaking.
As the turbulence intensifies, a plastic bag tied to a shelf in front of the researcher rotates completely, spilling its contents onto the floor. “Can you grab my phone real quick?” asks Programs Integration Engineer Nick Underwood, who was filming the rocky flight.
The aircraft, which was manufactured in the mid-1970s, was tasked with measuring several critical aspects of Hurricane Milton, Susan Buchanan, the National Weather Service’s director of public affairs, was quoted as saying by USA Today.
According to Buchanan, “The purpose of these missions is primarily to locate the center of the storm and measure central pressure and surface winds around the eye.”
The National Hurricane Center uses the collected data to track the storm’s location, strength, and speed, enabling meteorologists to generate forecasts regarding the storm’s trajectory and intensity based on the gathered information.
Milton was expected to make landfall late Wednesday night on Florida’s west coast near Tampa, but forecasters said “it is critical to remember that even at 24 hours out, it is still not possible to pinpoint an an exact landfall location.”
“Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida,” the US hurricane center said.