Hurricane Hunter

    P-3 Hurricane Hunter Tour
    Corpus Christi Texas
    Monday April 14, 2008

You can tell it is getting close to hurricane season when the P-3 Hurricane Hunter airplane is buzzing the Corpus Christi International Airport. Such was the case on April 14th when the local National Weather Server office hosted the P-3 Hurricane Hunter tour in Corpus Christi.

Along with the P-3 being in town, we had Bill Read (KB5FYA, yes, he is a ham), Director of the National Hurricane Center, visiting along with many people of staff from the NHC. At the recent National Hurricane conference, he gave an interview concerning the importance of Amateur Radio. You can click on one of the following links to hear Bill's comments. Video Audio Only

Science classes from area schools were invited to tour the P-3 during the day from 9am until 3pm, based on a published schedule. Beginning at 3pm, the tour was open to the general public.

Ham radio was invited out to help coordinate the movement of the busses and hand out information on Amateur Radio. Thanks to Jim - W5IM, Larry - W5LDB, Holly - KE5EOM, & Steve - NØWZH for coming out and manning the information booth and parking area with ham radio to make the event run as smooth as it did.

The P-3 exhibit was setup just outside the Signature Aviation hangar. Inside the hangar was an amazing air conditioned tent supplied by the Navy which was used for a 30 minute presentation by the NWS. Also located in the hangar were various groups invited by the NWS office to participate. These included the LEPC (Local Emergency Planning Commission), Corpus Christi International Airport, American Red Cross, and South Texas Amateur Radio Club (STARC). The NWS office also had an exhibit in the hangar for the public to look at the instruments used to measure weather.

After the 30 minute presentation by the NWS, the groups toured the P-3 and the other various exhibits on the Tarmac which included Navy trainers, Coast Guard helicopter, Fire Department exhibits and more.

Then the groups were brought back into the hangar to visit the other groups setup.

The STARC table was setup with an Icom 746 for communications to the parking area and to show the students ham radio in action. Also on the table was a laptop with the Walter Cronkite video running on a loop which talks about ham radio and it's use in emergency situations. We also supplied every visitor with a tri-fold pamphlet on amateur radio specifically designed for this age group.

It was a long day, but all involved had a great time. The kids were impressed with all the exhibits. The event went smoothly and the NWS was very appreciative of the efforts of amateur radio at the event.

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