Battered and battered by fierce winds and severe turbulence, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane hunters have spent the past week diving into the eye of historic storm Melissa to gather life-saving data. They do it 24/7 because their mission is considered essential to public safety.
But this time, they did it all without pay because the government was shut down.
Hurricane Hunter is a standard feature of storm response in the United States. Information collected by the plane’s specialized equipment, including a tail-mounted Doppler radar that takes virtual CT scans of the storm, is critical to issuing accurate forecasts and measuring storm strength in real time.
The data, including radar information, is input directly into computer models that forecasters use to predict the hurricane’s path and intensity.
But as long-lived Hurricane Melissa continues to rage throughout this week, air carriers are under increasing financial stress.
Crews on the agency’s decades-old WP-3D aircraft have now missed two paychecks due to the grounding, a NOAA official familiar with hurricane hunter operations told CNN on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Crew members are required to be “fully mentally present, especially in this environment, and that’s difficult to do when you know you may not be able to make a living,” NOAA staff said. “Every week or month, I tap into my savings to pay off my mortgage.”
Flying through what was once a Category 5 storm was particularly difficult, with one NOAA aircraft exceeding its gravitational turbulence limits and having to return to base for a safety inspection.
Video from the flight showed equipment falling from the plane’s ceiling and about 20 crew members cursing and laughing as they were thrown onto safety belts.
NOAA officials said the same plane took off into the storm later that day on a separate mission, after being inspected by ground crews who also work without pay.
NOAA crews met all requirements from the National Hurricane Center, officials said. The center assigns them to specific flight routes and schedules where scientists believe field data will improve predictions as much as possible.
“We find it remarkable that these crews are working around the clock to support our critical mission, even as we endure increasing financial challenges,” they said.
NOAA operations have a fully staffed crew of about 20 people per flight, they said.
NOAA aircraft continued to fly as the storm rolled into Jamaica, causing severe damage and killing at least 19 people.
They continue to fly in support of the United States’ international partners, including a flight on Thursday aimed at ensuring Bermuda residents received accurate warnings about the strength and path of the storm.
NOAA spokeswoman Kim Doster acknowledged the crew’s hard work and financial stress. “NOAA looks forward to a swift end to the devastating federal government shutdown that has forced essential workers and military members like our brave Hurricane Hunter pilots to go without pay while performing mission-critical missions that protect the lives of Americans every day,” she told CNN.
The Air Force Reserve has also flown into Hurricanes and into Melissa on numerous missions, but those planes aren’t packed with the same specialized equipment as older NOAA aircraft. They fly more direct reconnaissance missions, monitoring the strength and movement of storms, while NOAA’s flights are more aimed at enabling improved hurricane research and forecasting.
Remarkably, one of the Air Force planes also encountered severe turbulence passing through Melissa and had to turn back. CNN reached out to the Air Force Hurricane Hunter Squadron about their pay status, but did not receive a response.
It is unusual for two flights to have to turn back during the same storm, and shows the power of the hurricane as it approaches southwestern Jamaica. With maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, Melissa crossed the Jamaican coast at the same time as the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall.
Andy Hazelton, a hurricane researcher with NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division at the University of Miami, told CNN earlier this week that NOAA planes forced to turn back due to turbulence had the toughest ride in a hurricane since they began conducting such research seven years ago.
“We’ve encountered enough updrafts and downdrafts that we have to make sure the plane is OK,” said Hazelton, whose salary is being paid through the university during the shutdown. “These crew members deserve all the credit because they are doing this work without being paid.”
