Kermit was bouncing around pretty good the last time I was on it, flying into the eye of Hurricane Irene as it was ramping up from a Cat 1 to a Cat 2.
But the sturdy Orion P-3 turboprop plane was built to handle the 100-mile-an-hour winds and worse and eight hours after we took off from MacDill Air Force Base we landed, stirred but not shaken.
The storm was one of the nation’s costliest, causing at least 45 deaths, more than $7.3 billion in damage and cutting power to more than 7 million homes and businesses, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the Orions out of MacDill.
NOAA officials point to their forecasting of Irene’s track as “an example of increasing accuracy in forecasting storm track. Its landfall in eastern North Carolina and path northward were accurately predicted more than four days in advance by NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, which used information from weather satellites, hurricane models, aircraft observations, and other data.”
“NOAA’s delivery of critical environmental forecasts provided essential advance information that allowed emergency officials to plan necessary evacuations and sparked individuals to take safety precautions,” and Kermit played a big role in that, according to the administration.
But Kermit and its sister Orion, Miss Piggy, are getting long in the tooth. Each plane, which came on line in the mid-70s, has flown more than 10,000 hours and into more than 80 hurricanes. With the pounding they’ve taken, the planes are undergoing a $35 million refurbishing job to extend their service lives for another 15 to 20 years.
Given that there will still be hurricanes to hunt past the year 2030, NOAA is looking to develop the next generation of Kermits and Miss Piggys. To that end, it has put out a solicitation looking for companies that can help figure out what kinds of sensors and other data-gathering equipment will be needed in the future, according to NOAA Cmdr. Devin Brakob, a P-3 navigator and aviation specialist with NOAA’s platform acquisition division.
The study, which will cost between $500,000 and $1 million, will examine what kinds of tools NOAA scientists think they will need in the future, says Brakob.
The goal, according to the solicitation, is to retire Kermit and Miss Piggy in 2030, and to have their replacements operational by Jan. 1, 2028 to ensure no turbulence in the transition.
Among other things, the study will analyze the Orions’ track record in helping forecast storms, according to the solicitation. Scientists aboard the flights currently use Doppler radar and expendable equipment called dropsondes, cardboard cylinders filled with sensors that read water temperature, wind speed, air pressure and humidity to gather data used in making predictions. The study will look at current and future developments in sensor platforms, including airborne Doppler radar, cloud radars and Light Detection and Ranging Radars, known as Lidar. There will also be a review of the expendables, with an eye toward what might be needed in the future.
Brakob is no scientist, but he knows plenty about flying into storms.
“I’ve been a navigator for the past 12 years,” he says. “I flew into Katrina as well as Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne during the busy 2004 season.”
He also flew into Irene, likely on the same flight I was on.
I asked Brakob what he, as a crew member, would like to see improved, but he demurred, saying that at this point, it is up to the scientists.
And really, that’s what it’s all about. The types of sensors and other data-gathering equipment will determine what kind of airplane replaces Kermit and Miss Piggy, says Jim McFadden, chief of programs at NOAA’s operations center, based at MacDill.
Kermit Junior might be another Orion, says McFadden. Or it could be a C-130, like the ones flown out of Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi.
The bulk of hurricane forecasting work is done by a fleet of 10 C-130-Js out of Keesler, says McFadden, But at this point, they don’t have the Doppler radar that provides improved forecasting of storm tracks and intensity, he says.
Future development of the radars might negate the need for the tail Doppler radar and the requisite radomes — weatherproof enclosures outside the plane — that the Orions have but the C-130s don’t, says McFadden. Of course, by 2030, not only will Kermit and Miss Piggy be about 55 years old each, but the Orions were first introduced in the 1960s while the C-130s were introduced in the 1950s, so it’s possible that a whole different airframe will be chosen.
There is no budget yet developed for the replacements, says Brakob. Solicitations for the study are due Jan. 6, 2015, with a projected award date at the end of that month.
Plenty else is going on at NOAA, says McFadden.
“We have an exciting year coming up,” he says. “Just for starters, we have all three large aircraft, the two P-3s and the G-IV, heading out in mid-January on projects with the G-IV and one P-3 going to California to study those atmospheric rivers which bring rain and high winds to the West Coast while the second P-3 heads to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where it will be doing calibration and validation studies in the North Atlantic for satellites measuring ocean vector winds. And that’s just for starters. We are expecting a very busy and challenging spring and summer, but we think we are up to that challenge.”
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I’ve never been a huge fan of the civilian version of the High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle, better known as the Humvee, but as a classic auto fan who at times owned a ’64 Chevy Malibu, a ’66 Chevy Impala and a ’70 Dodge Charger (a one-time sheriff’s vehicle) I am pretty stoked about the news that IronPlanet will be auctioning off 26 military surplus Hummers.
Over the summer, the company, which bills itself as “the leading online marketplace for buying and selling used heavy equipment and trucks,” was awarded a contract from the Defense Logistics Agency to sell off its extra rolling stock. Aside from the Hummers, the list includes other surplus trucks, trailers, generators, wheel loaders, cranes, crawler tractors, and other equipment.
Most of the Hummers up for auction are from 1994, but the lot dates back to 1987. There are two different configurations — trucks designed to be troop carriers and those designed to carry cargo. All have the standard-issue 6.2-liter diesel engine with three-speed, automatic transmission and mileage ranges from 1,449 to 38,334. Of course, given that these things were used by the military, in some pretty austere environments, those are some pretty hard miles.
Overall, the Hummers appear to be in fairly decent shape, according to the descriptions on the IronPlanet website, based on limited checks of drive train, engine, body and other components. Still, let the buyer beware. The truck with the fewest miles had at least one problem, for instance.
“After jump starting, the engine ran,” according to IronPlanet. “The engine would not re-start after shutting down without jump starting.”
Most of the Hummers are available at an on-line auction starting Dec. 17. Starting bids are $10,000, with $500 incremental increases.
So if you want to be the first person in your neighborhood with a real Hummer, go to http://bit.ly/1ssfHfm.
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Do you have a loved one from Hillsborough County who died during the Civil War, the Mexican-American War, World Wars I and II or the Gulf War?
The folks at the Veterans Memorial Park and Museum in Tampa are looking for you.
They have bids out for five new memorials — the Gulf War, World War I, POW/MIA, Purple Heart and Medal of Honor — and plans are in the works for memorials honoring the Civil War, the Mexican-American War and World War II.
“We are trying to locate family members of those who lost their lives in those conflicts to be able to put their names on these memorials,” says Silmser.
Silmser can be reached via email, Rafkirk64@tampabay.rr.com, or snail mail, PO Box 2403, Valrico, FL, 23595.
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The Pentagon announced no deaths last week in support of operations either in Afghanistan or Syria and Iraq.
There have been 2,344 U.S. troop deaths in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the nation’s longest war, and three in Operation Inherent Resolve, the nation’s newest conflict.