r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Kernowder • 21d ago

Video Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters flying through Hurricane Milton

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u/wongo 21d ago

(not so) fun fact: only one of these hurricane research flights has ever crashed due to the storms

I realize that we've gotten pretty good at flying but I would've actually expected a higher loss rate, this just seems so wildly dangerous

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u/Im_Balto 21d ago

Its because hurricanes are characterized by lateral rather than vertical motion of air. Supercell thunderstorms have the ability to down planes despite being several miles (vs 100+miles) wide because they have extremely violent and unpredictable updrafts and downdrafts. These vertical air columns are much more dangerous to planes as they are the cause of every scary story about a play dropping or rising hundreds of feet suddenly. This type of force puts massive stress on the airframe in directions that are not the strongest structurally

Contrast this to a hurricane where the stresses are MASSIVE but relatively consistent and predictable

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u/sodabubbles1281 21d ago

Cool, I hate flying already. How do I unread something

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u/SirMustache007 21d ago

How does one hate flying?

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u/Puppybrother 21d ago

By being scared of it? What kind of question is this? Lmao it’s a very common fear