Hurricane hunting Irene

[nazca_steve]

Well, topical one, this. Watching all the news on Irene got me thinking this was the perfect time to fire up Active Sky and take up my hurricane hunter WB-57A on a pleasure trip to seek out the impending doom (sorry east coast!). Hey, this is an important job though and provides extra time to evacuate (let's turn back the clock slightly and pretend the satellites are not working at the mo!):

So, leaving from Wilmington, NC, around 19:30 here goes:

cloud front getting heavier:

into the pea soup around 4,500ft:

Taking a look above:

FS is so...pretty at this time of day and with AS6 running:

Ok, back to work:

Carried on flying and providing useful weather updates until about 20:30:

hard to find Wilmington again even with the flipping GPS:

And back down somewhat safely!

Good luck to those all dealing with the real thing tonight.

 

[Willy]

I took a Navy Super Constellation Hurricane Hunter out this afternoon from MCAS New River in Jacksonville North Carolina to Charleston AFB in South Carolina. I only went up to 2000ft and followed the coast down in default Real Weather. The worst weather then was around Myrtle Beach SC with 32kt winds and heavy clouds and rain.

 

[Wing_Z]

I also went looking, as you do, hoping AS6 would pick it up.
Found it offshore, between N and S Carolina.
Cloud tops at around 14,000ft, winds 42kt, plenty of rain.

 

[Blackbird686]

Nice shots, you guys! I use my trusty WP-3D Orion from KBT to fly in rough weather, but due to back problems, I had to sit this one out.:isadizzy:

BB686:USA-flag:

 

[middle]

I alos looked around for the hurricane. I always wondered if FS9 modeled the "eye".
I didn't find it but had fun flying around lookin for it.....I need to find a USA paint for this plane.View attachment 46876View attachment 46875View attachment 46874View attachment 46873

 

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Very nice shots there!

I think it's quite venturous to take a Sentry up there:
Might blow the radome away...

Cheers,
Markus.

 

[Willy]

Took off again late last night (turned the daylight on so I could see) in the US Navy WV-2 Hurricane Hunter from Elizabeth City NC. Flew at 2000 again and once I got to First Flight (KFFA) I turned to follow the coast south. Between Jacksonville and Wilmington, the wind was about 50kts and kept shifting around from all directions on the compass. Enough so that I was getting knocked around all over the sky. I left the autopilot on altitude hold and flew the heading manually as the AP couldn't keep up.

 

[nazca_steve]

Lovely shots, all, nice to see some serious hunting going on there. I also wondered if they modelled an eye of sorts, but I probably never found the main body as I only went up last evening and not that far off the coast. That coast guard Herc looks lovely in the rain, not to mention the Connie.

 

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Took off again late last night (turned the daylight on so I could see) in the US Navy WV-2 Hurricane Hunter from Elizabeth City NC.

So we probably met there:
Took a quick hop at about 1900 zulu from this location just to get the weather data saved. FSMetar provided me some nice 55 kn gusts:

Cheers,
Markus.

 

[Wing_Z]

Nice one, Markus, catches the "look".
I abandoned the C130 to get a little higher... man, that is a big storm.
Cruising up the eastern seaboard, passing over NYC, is that the eye of the storm?
Possibly, maybe just a hole in the cloud.

 

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Nice one, Markus, catches the "look".
I abandoned the C130 to get a little higher...

Well, it's pretty much bumpy down below:

Just been around Cape Cod CGAS and received gusts around 71 kn. Kind of exciting ride...

Cheers,
Markus.