"Hurricane Hunter" Dazzled Children In Costa Rica

As the hurricane season approves, the Hurricane Hunter by the U.S. Air Force was in Costa Rica for almost 24 hours between Wednesday and Thursday, for educations purposes, dazzling school children.

The plane touched down in Limón on Wednesday and then at the Juan Santamaría (San José airport) on Thursday, as children from schools across the country were amazed by the technology used to help prevent disasters.

Alfio Piva, Costa Rica's vice-president received the crew and was given a "lucky coin" and a poster autographed by meteorologists and pilots.

Last year, the plane of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted 88 flights to the centre of tropical cyclones, 13 research flights over the Atlantic and four missions in the Pacific tropical cyclones.

The aircraft collected meteorological data on the behavior of hurricanes sending it in real time via satellite to the National Hurricane Centre. With the data countries take preventive measures.



Units that commonly called part of the Hurricane Hunters are the United States Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Hurricane Hunters.

The Air Force Reserve 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron is currently based at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, and the majority of all of the reconnaissance flights are based from Keesler. The United States Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters are the only operational military weather reconnaissance unit in the world.

Civilian and NOAA Corps crew members of The NOAA Hurricane Hunters, a non-military organization based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, are also tasked to support hurricane reconnaissance flights. Part of the US Department of Commerce, the organization maintains a fleet of three hurricane aircraft which are primarily used for hurricane research and hurricane surveillance missions.

The Weather Channel has announced that it will debut a new docu-reality series ("Hurricane Hunters") in July 2012.