Hurricanes

Here’s what it looked like on a flight through Hurricane Ian

"When I say this was the roughest flight of my career so far, I mean it."

This satellite image provided by NASA on Monday shows Hurricane Ian pictured from the International Space Station just south of Cuba gaining strength and heading toward Florida. NASA via AP

By John Waller

1 minute to read

The seatbelt sign likely stayed on during this flight.

NOAA Hurricane Hunter Nick Underwood posted a video to Twitter on Wednesday of what it was like onboard the agency’s “Kermit” aircraft on a flight through Hurricane Ian, as the Category 4 storm approached Florida with 155 mph winds.

“When I say this was the roughest flight of my career so far, I mean it,” Underwood wrote. “I have never seen the bunks come out like that. There was coffee everywhere. I have never felt such lateral motion.”

All in all, the crew appears fairly calm, with even some laughs mixed in.

Underwood also shared photos of the aftermath.

Underwood is on the NOAA team, not to be confused with the Air Force’s hurricane team, which is also monitoring Ian.

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“Want to stress we don’t this for fun. It’s a public service,” Underwood added in a tweet. “We go up there to gather data on the storm that can keep folks on the ground safe. Those forecast models? A lot of the data comes from what we do. I’m a very small part of a large team. Incredible teammates.”

The latest on Hurricane Ian:

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John Waller

Deputy Editor, News

John Waller is a deputy editor overseeing news coverage on Boston.com. He is a Lexington native and Colby College graduate.

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