Membership Area
Cart
Lockheed WC-130 Hurricane Hunter (Flicker Photo Sharing) www.flicker.com
Shortly after the WC-130s arrived at Ramey an airborne meteorologist became our neighbor in Isabela.
His stories were fascinating.
He told me that a barometric altimeter is of no use inside a storm cell. The WC-130 had a pair of SCR-718 radar altimeter indicators setting side-by-side–two independent systems. If their readings differed by more than 50 feet they didn’t enter the storm.
I became familiar with the SCR-718 in the mid-1950s while I stationed at Charleston AFB, South Carolina. I was surprised they were still in use.
To learn more about the Hurricane Hunters, please check out their website at http://www.hurricaneshunters.com/