NOAA

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the Department of Commerce cooperates with the Air Force and Navy to watch for hurricanes and tornadoes and to study them. The information gathered is used by the national weather services to forecast weather conditions to warn us of impending danger. Today it is done by satellites.

The following is an actual flight of a United States Navy Hurricane Hunter, circa 1965:

The pilot was busy turning switches on and off, his eyes reading dials, his ears listening to the sound of engines and the voice of the co-pilot as he started to read a list of things that had to be checked before takeoff.

Co-pilot: Flight instruments?
As he called off each item, he received an answer from the flight engineer (who sat behind him), or from the pilot, or he answered the checkpoint aloud himself. Sometimes all three men answered.

Pilot: Checked and set.

The checklist was printed on a small scroll that was in a black box mounted on the instrument panel in front of the co-pilot. Each time the co-pilot received an answer, he would turn the knob on the side of the box to bring into view the next item to be checked. Nothing was left to memory.

Co-pilot: Radio altimeter?

Pilot: Set.

Co-pilot: Radio IFF and radios?

Pilot: Set.

Co-pilot: Set.

Co-pilot: Crew briefing?

Pilot: What do we weigh?

Flight engineer: 132 (meaning 132,000 pounds).

Pilot: O.K. If we have to dump, we dump (fuel) to 110 (meaning 110,000 pounds), come back around, and land.

Flight engineer: Roger.

There was a before-starting checklist, another was a list to be called out before taxi time, another that was checked while the plane was waiting at the end of the runway, and finally, a list to be checked out during take off.

Co-pilot: Lift off speed?

Pilot: 116 to 121 knots.

Co-pilot: Wing flaps?

Pilot: 60 percent set.

Co-pilot: 60 percent set.

Co-pilot: Wndows and doors?

Pilot: Closed.

Flight engineer: Closed.

Co-pilot: Closed.

Co-pilot: Master RPM control?

Flight engineer: Full increase RPM.

Reading the list and checking by the crew continued until the co-pilot called out over the roar of the engines, "before take off checklist completed," and heard the double echo of "before takeoff checklist completed, before takeoff checklist completed," from the pilot and flight engineer.

The crew members were satisfied that the plane was in good shape. Their bodies vibrated with the almost deafening noise of the engines as the plane moved down the runway. In a few moments, they were airborne.

All of the attention to the condition of the plane before and during flight results in an amazingly good safety record. The Navy has flown more than 70,000 accident-free hours while investigating storms in the north Atlantic. There has been only one plane lost since 1943. That was on September 26, 1955. Lieutenant Commander Graver B. Windham and his crew of nine left Guantanamo, Cuba, in a Navy Neptune aircraft. They, with two newsmen from the Toronto Star, planned to enter the eye of Hurricane Janet. They reported their position just as they were going to enter the eye of Janet and they were never heard from again, nor was any sign of them found. No bodies, no wreckage. They just disappeared.

Every year since then, on September 26th, the Navy flies over Windham's last reported position and drops a wreath of flowers in memory of those who disappeared.