Hurricane Awareness Tour Weather Service Forecast Office

Hurricane Awareness Tour May 7, 2009 Wilmington International Airport

On Thursday May 7, 2009...the NOAA WP-3 Orion Hurricane Hunter Aircraft will visit the Wilmington International Airport. See all of the details below:

An image of the NOAA WP-3 Orion Hurricane Hunter Aircraft

Schedule Click Specific Time For Details

9:00 AM - 1:00 PM School Groups
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Media
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM Public

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Rachel Freeman Elementary 9:00 AM
Wrightsville Beach 9:30 AM
South Topsail Elementary 10:00 AM
Bellville Elementary 10:30 AM
Acme-Delco Elementary 11:00 AM
Myrtle Grove Christian School 11:30 AM
Wilmington Christian Academy 12:00 PM

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The media and vips will visit from 1:00 PM through 3:00 PM.

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The public is invited to visit the Hurricane Hunter aircraft from 3:00 PM until 5:00 PM. Please note there are several other displays...see the specific information below...to see during the day.

Directions Click Specific Time For Details

From The North
From The South
From The West
Parking Map for the Event

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Take Highway 17 South into Wilmington where Hwy 17 becomes Market Street. Take a right onto Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and take the Wilmington International Airport exit. Turn left on 23rd Street and the airport is ahead on the right hand side.

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Take Highway 17 North into Wilmington, exit at the Highway 133 & 421 North Airport exit. Just past the USS Battleship North Carolina take a right onto the Isabelle Holmes bridge. This route merges into the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. Stay on the Parkway and follow airport directional signs to the 23rd Street Airport Exit, turning right onto 23rd Street. Go approximately 2 miles to Airport Boulevard and turn right, the airport is directly ahead.

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Take Highway 40 into Wilmington. When you get to Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway turn right. Stay on the Parkway and take the Wilmington International Airport exit. Turn left on 23rd Street and the airport is ahead on the right hand side.

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an image of the map for parking

Parking for the event will be located between Hewlett and Hall Drive just off of Trask Drive.

An inside image of the NOAA WP-3 Orion Hurricane Hunter Aircraft

What You Can See at the Event Click Specific Title For Details

Instruments
Radars
GPS Dropwindsonde
Meteorologist/Aviators
Other Information

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The WP-3 Orion Hurricane Hunter Aircraft has dozens of weather instruments on board.

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There are three radars on the plane...one located on the nose and tail and one located below the fuselage. an image of a dropsonde

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The GPS Sonde is a lightweight instrument package that is launched from the aircraft. As it descends from aircraft altitude (5,000 – 38,000 feet) to the surface, at about 2500 feet per minute, it measures and transmits current pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and GPS position information to AVAPS hardware in the aircraft twice each second. The Sonde also receives GPS navigation signals from at least four GPS satellites, and measures the Doppler shift of each signal. Up to four sondes can be deployed simultaneously. AVAPS receives this data, processes it, then displays the time from launch, raw weather data, number of GPS satellites being tracked, and geopotential altitude for each Sonde deployed. an image of a dropsonde

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When you visit...you will have access to meteorologist and aviators. an image of the hurricane hunters

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Other HAT Displays:
UNCW CMS will have a buoy on display
Red Cross
North Carolina Emergency Management
NOAA in the Carolinas
Amateur Radio