Crews from the Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron recently flew several missions into Tropical Storm Bertha from an airport in St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. The “Hurricane Hunters” flew their first low-level flight into the storm last week to gather data on which way the storm’s winds were rotating, they then flew another six-hour sortie in the unit’s WC-130J to determine the center of the low-pressure storm. The 53rd WRS provided near real-time data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center, to help determine the storm’s trajectory, Lt. Col. Jon Talbot, 53rd WRS chief meteorologist said. As of early Tuesday, according to NHC projections, the storm had veered north, headed into the Atlantic, and was downgraded to a Tropical Storm.
Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach said the service must improve its readiness in his first public remarks as Air Force Chief of Staff, made during a ceremony marking his ascension to the service’s top job Nov. 18.
