The United States Air Force Reserve’s Hurricane Hunters return to Grand Cayman next month for the first time since before Hurricane Ivan.
A WC-130J Hurricane Hunter. Photo: Submitted |
Members of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, arrive Wednesday, 18 April.
During their three-hour stay they will showcase their aircraft to the public and share their experiences of flying through hurricanes. The visit forms part of their annual tour of Latin America and the Caribbean during which they advise on their role in assisting countries in hurricane regions.
According to a GIS release, the visit will launch Cayman’s public education campaign for the 2007 hurricane season.
The WC-130J Hercules aircraft will be available for viewing from 1pm to 4pm at the General Aviation Terminal, next to the Island Air hanger at the Owen Roberts International Airport.
The public are invited to tour the plane, ask questions of the onboard weather specialists and take photos with the crew.
The visit is being co-ordinated by the Cayman Islands Meteorological Office and the Hazard Management Cayman Islands agency.
WC-130J
The WC-130J Hercules is a high-wing, medium-range aircraft used in weather reconnaissance missions.
The plane is a modified version of the C-130J transport, configured with computerised weather instrumentation for penetration of tropical storms to obtain data on storm movement, size and intensity.
The release advises that the aircraft is capable of staying aloft for almost 18 hours at an optimum cruise speed of more than 300 miles per hour.
An average weather reconnaissance mission might last 11 hours and cover almost 3,500 miles. The crew collects and can report weather data as often as every minute.
The WC-130J normally carries a crew of five: pilot, co-pilot, navigator, aerial reconnaissance weather officer and a dropsonde system operator. Additional crew members may be added as needed for special missions. The crew and the aircraft are assigned to the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, an Air Force Reserve unit assigned to the 403rd Wing at Keesler AFB, Miss.
The 53rd WRS – known as the Hurricane Hunters – is responsible for reconnaissance missions in the Atlantic Ocean; Caribbean Sea; Gulf of Mexico and Eastern and Central Pacific Ocean areas.
From the front of the cargo compartment, the aerial reconnaissance weather officer operates the computerised weather reconnaissance equipment to measure outside free air temperature, dew point temperature, altitude of the aircraft and barometric pressure at that height. The weather officer also evaluates other meteorological conditions such as cloud types and amounts; turbulence; icing; visibility and ocean surface winds.
The most important special equipment on board the WC-130J is the dropsonde system. The GPS Dropsonde Windfinding System is a cylindrically-shaped instrument about 16 inches long and 3.5 inches in diameter. The dropsonde is equipped with a high frequency radio and other sensing devices, and is released from the aircraft about every 400 miles over the water. As the instrument descends to the sea surface, it measures and relays to the aircraft a vertical atmospheric profile of the temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and wind data. It is slowed and stabilised by a small parachute. The Dropsonde System Operator then receives, analyses and encodes the data for transmission by satellite.
The WC-130J provides data vital to tropical cyclone forecasting. The aircraft usually penetrates hurricanes at an altitude of 10,000 ft. to collect meteorological data in the vortex, or eye, of the storm. The aircraft normally flies a radius of about 100 miles from the vortex to collect detailed data about the structure of the tropical cyclone.
The information collected makes possible warning of hurricanes and typhoons, and increases the accuracy of hurricane predictions and warnings by as much as 30 percent. Collected data are relayed directly to the National Hurricane Centre in Miami, Florida – a civilian weather agency that tracks hurricanes and provides warning service in the Atlantic area.
WC-130J SPECIFICATIONS
Primary function: Weather reconnaissance
Power plant/manufacturer: Four Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3 turboprops
Horsepower: More than 4,700 horsepower, each engine
Length: 97 feet, 9 inches
Height: 38 feet, 10 inches
Wingspan: 132 feet, 7 inches
Speed: 417 mph/362 ktas (Mach 0.59) at 22,000 feet
Ceiling: 28,000 feet (8,615 meters) with 42,000 lbs. payload
Maximum Range with 35,000 pound payload: 1,841 miles/ 1,600 nautical miles
Maximum takeoff weight: 155,000 lbs.
Crew: Five (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, aerial reconnaissance weather officer, and dropsonde system operator)
Source: US Air Force Reserve
WC-130J-Graphic
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