Disturbing detail on live flight tracking map near deadly Hurricane Melissa leaves people shocked
Dozens of people have been left reeling in shock after spotting a detail on a live map as Hurricane Melissa made its rampage towards Jamaica.
If you've never enjoyed the thrill of watching FlightRadar, a live flight tracking app spanning our entire home planet, you're missing out.
Not only does it show us commercial jets set off from their departure and their live location mid-flight, with details such as the type of plane and where it's headed to, but you can also spot some pretty interesting-looking planes, including occasionally some military ones and even fighter jets.
However, US military as well as government and other high-profilers tend to be blocked from public view for security or privacy reasons.
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Still, pilots have been known to broadcast their ADS-B signal when the risk is low, prompting some excitement for viewers on the ground.
The US Air Force Hurricane Hunters were the latest to exhilarate people as their tracking showed them fly right through the eye of the category 5 Hurricane Melissa before it struck the west coast of Jamaica at around 1pm ET on Tuesday (October 28).
After making landfall, it has been dubbed the 'storm of the century', with 185mph winds, floods and a power stronger than Katrina that claimed the lives of almost 1,4000 people and devastated New Orleans in 2005 with more than $125 billion worth of damage.
Before making its way to Cuba, Melissa dropped to category 3, but not before causing mass devastation and leaving a trail of destruction in her path across the Caribbean.
Prior to landfall, however, the Hurricane Hunters took Melissa on directly, flying a Super Hercules belonging to the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron through the storm, from one side to the other, at 10,00 feet.
A second jet, a WP-3D Orion piloted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) stayed at around 8,000 feet, circling around the edge.
While dozens were left shocked by the daring operation, and curious how the jets - and its pilots - could withstand the storm, Hurricane Hunters, also known as Typhoon Hunters or Cyclone Hunters, are tasked with flying into the danger zone to collect data on the weather.
The hunters fly in and around tropical and winter storms to gather key information like wind speed, temperature, pressure and humidity, providing an essential resource for forecasters and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to determine the facts and assist with emergency calls for evacuations and appropriate warnings to save lives.
"Those pilots have some serious guts," said one on Twitter, while marvelling at the tracker.
"And I don't like turbulent landings..." said a second to which FlightRadar joked back: "Turbulence on landing isn't really a problem with these flights."
The Air Force later confirmed that the Super Hercules, going by TEAL 75 on FlightRadar, returned home safely, aside from some severe turbulence.
"During the event, the aircraft briefly experienced forces stronger than normal due to turbulence," it said.
"While this does not automatically indicate damage, standard safety procedures require an inspection before returning to operations."
Topics: Weather, World News, Plane, Military
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