WOW. I live relatively near an active base and occasionally these beasts will fly overhead. I had no idea they were capable of literally flying through hurricanes; that is extra badass. I’m not really an aircraft enthusiast or anything but it still gives me a bit of a thrill to hear them thundering overhead.
It’s pretty crazy to think about, but regular passenger jumbo jets experience hurricane force winds constantly. What actually puts a lot of stress on an aircraft fuselage is sudden shifts in wind speed, especially if the forces are vertical and cause the plane to rise or fall rapidly.
So, most modern planes could fly through a hurricane as long as they travel with the direction of wind and avoid major pockets of turbulence. The C130s are extra strong, because they are built to handle the stress of transporting very large payloads. The hurricane hunters use these, and other aircraft like them, while they are pretty much empty, so they have a lot of extra stress tolerance to work with.
WOW. I live relatively near an active base and occasionally these beasts will fly overhead. I had no idea they were capable of literally flying through hurricanes; that is extra badass. I’m not really an aircraft enthusiast or anything but it still gives me a bit of a thrill to hear them thundering overhead.
It’s pretty crazy to think about, but regular passenger jumbo jets experience hurricane force winds constantly. What actually puts a lot of stress on an aircraft fuselage is sudden shifts in wind speed, especially if the forces are vertical and cause the plane to rise or fall rapidly.
So, most modern planes could fly through a hurricane as long as they travel with the direction of wind and avoid major pockets of turbulence. The C130s are extra strong, because they are built to handle the stress of transporting very large payloads. The hurricane hunters use these, and other aircraft like them, while they are pretty much empty, so they have a lot of extra stress tolerance to work with.
and are designed to be shot at