‘THE WORST FLIGHT EVER’: INSIDE AN UNFORGETTABLE MISSION INTO HURRICANE IAN
September 29, 2022 ·Matt White
With several nearly 1,000-foot swings up and down, Air Force Hurricane Hunter Teal 73 hit an epic patch of terrible turbulence inside Hurricane Ian. Chart from Tropical Tidbits. Composite by Kenna Lee/Coffee or Die Magazine.
Maj. Kendall Dunn knows something about taking big hits. Before he became a pilot for the Air Force Reserve’s “Hurricane Hunters” in the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, he played defensive line for the University of Southern Mississippi’s football team. As a senior, he helped lead the squad to a major victory in the 1997 Liberty Bowl.
But he may never have taken a hit like the one Hurricane Ian laid on Dunn and the crew of his WC-130J during a Sept. 28 reconnaissance flight, just hours before the monster storm made landfall.
“It was by far my worst flight,” Dunn told Coffee or Die Magazine. “It was like one of those times when you’re a kid out playing, and as soon as you come through the door, your mom knows you almost just died just by looking at you. Like you almost got hit by a car or something.”
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