HURRICANE HUNTERS
This page is a resource for pilots who wish to find extreme weather scenarios and to try and fly through, under, over or even land within it. You can use any weather generator you wish, but the weather should be "real". You can download the weather from any resource that you know including the FS Real Weather from Jepperson's. The hurricanes usually start appearing in September.
All we ask is that you should send us details of your flights in the form of emails, lounge posting and and also pictures for the Album.
You will find below links to some of the websites that I have found, but if you know of others then please let me know.
Click on the above title to take you to the National Hurricane Centre - this website has information about current tropical storms and links to satellite maps and forecasts. You will need this information to time your weather downloads and ensure that you fly into the correct area.
One tip I will give you from previous Hurricane Hunters sessions is that it is best to wait until the storm is close to land or crossing larger Caribbean Islands, the weather data is usually based on readings from airports and weather centres and there are many more of these on land than at sea!
HURRICANE HUNTERS
The name Hurricane Hunters is given to the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron based at Keesler Air Force Base close to Gulfport Biloxi Regional Airport in Southern Misissippi. From here the fly into hurricanes to measure and investigate these terrifying Storms. The base is well placed for Caribbean hurricanes that are usually "born" in the Atlantic and track into the Northern Caribbean, and then into the Southern States of the US. Clicking on the above picture will take you to their website, and this contains links to other interesting sites as well as articles and pictures about their work.
FS2000 default scenery includes Gulfport Biloxi Airport. I have not been able to find any 3rd party scenery, but if you know better then please let us know. FS98 users can find some nice scenery on Flightsim.com, the file name is gulfpt1.zip. I have not found any scenery for Keesler AFB itself, but it is probably protected by the US equivalent of the Official Secrets Act.
NOAA AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS CENTRE
Click on the AOC logo above to enter the NOAA Aircraft Operations Centre. There is lots of information here about the aircraft etc used in hurricane surveillance.
HURRICANE HUNTERS' C130
The Hurricane Hunters use a variety of aircraft including modified Lockheed Hercules C130's. If you wish to download one of these aircraft then Flightsim.com has a number available for FS2002, FS2000 and FS98. A list of possible files to download is below:-
FS2002
wp-3d.zip - Lockheed WP-3D - This includes a panel, but requires FS2002 Pro and the FS2000 Concorde gauges.
FS2000
wc130j2k.zip
hhc130v2.zip - this includes a panel
hercpnl.zip - this file is for a really excellent C130 panel but it is a 5Mb download
You can also use the Noble Air Cargo C130 available in 2001 colours from Jim Cranston's Paint shop on the LHR site via the "Links" page.
FS98
wc-130-j.zip
c130panl.zip - a nice FS98 panel
This is an excellent little program for FS2002/2000 users. It can be used to download and SAVE the Jepperson weather files that are normally accessed through the Real Weather option of FS2K. The files can then be used again whenever you wish, but can also be shared with other pilots if they are particularly good.
Get Weather can be downloaded from http://www.bearsoft.de don't worry there is a page in English!
FSMeteo
Another excellent weather generator using the official METAR weather files maybe downloaded from http://www.fsmeteo.com
Well that is about it, all we have to do now is get everything ready and then to wait for the next hurricane. You can always fly a Noble Air route to Miami and then a "Charter" flight from Miami to Gulfport.
HAVE FUN
This site was last modified on 20th July 2003