Their job is incredibly dangerous and it takes someone special – and it seems a bit crazy – to want to do it. What job? Piloting a plane into the eye of a hurricane to collect meteorological data. And now that job will be the focus of a new documentary series called Hurricane Hunters on The Weather Channel.
Hurricane Hunters will start off a four episode run in July, with each 30 minute show focusing on missions flown during the height of hurricane season.
“The appeal of shows like this for The Weather Channel is that these are real people and the type of work they do helps safeguard people and potentially saves lives,” stated Bob Walker, executive vice president and general manager of networks and content, The Weather Channel. “Few people can imagine what it would be like to travel into the eye of a hurricane – and these men and women volunteer to do it. Hurricane Hunters offers viewers a rare inside look at an extraordinary group of people and the work they do in perilous weather conditions.”
The Plot:
Hurricane Hunters follows the Air Force’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron based in Biloxi, MS, whose mission is to fly planes into hurricanes to better understand them and gather key meteorological data that can only be captured by flying into the eye of the storm. The information they gather helps weather services predict storm paths and warn affected cities. This is meteorology in the extreme: they risk their own lives, and other people’s lives depend on them. Remarkably, many of these highly trained men and women take on hurricane hunting as a second job – and their day jobs and hobbies are as varied as a FedEx pilot, an attorney and an Elvis impersonator, making for a unique and eclectic group.
Source: The Weather Channel Companies
—Posted by Rebecca Murray, January 14, 2012
