Original subtitles

Narrator: One of the most powerful hurricanes

of all time...

Man: I've never seen anything like it before, ever.

Narrator: Crashes ashore in 1989.

Man: Look at those wind speeds.

Narrator: Hurricane hugo creates mayhem on the ground.

Man: At the time,

it was the costliest u.s. Hurricane in history.

Narrator: While in the air...

Pilot: I can't get the left wing down.

Man: Mother nature's got a hold of my airplane.

Pilot: Don't force it.

Narrator: The killer storm is ripping apart

a government research plane.

Man: She's taking it where she wants to take it.

Pilot: We're losing number three!

Pilot: I don't believe this.

Man: Number three engine's on fire.

Pilot: More power!

Man: The pilot lost control of the aircraft.

Pilot: That's all we're gonna get.

Man: He started plunging downwards.

Pilot: It's not enough.

Man: I thought death may be coming.

Flight attendant: Ladies and gentlemen, we are starting our approach.

Pilot: We lost both engines!

Flight attendant: Put the mask over your nose.

Emergency descent.

Pilot: Mayday, mayday.

Flight attendant: Brace for impact!

Controller: I think I lost one.

Man: Investigation starting...

Man: He's gonna crash!

Narrator: The world is watching

as hurricane hugo churns across the atlantic.

It's a massive cyclone, over 375 miles wide.

The storm is marching steadily toward the caribbean

and threatens to hit land in less than two days' time.

On dozens of islands and along the u.s. Coastline,

people rush to get out of hugo's path.

But high above the ocean,

a team of hurricane hunters is doing the exact opposite.

Man: Do you have 90? I've got 95 on this.

Narrator: They're heading straight for the eye of the storm.

Jeffrey masters: Whenever you're approaching

a hurricane for the first time

you always have a little bit of that tingling, like anxious...

You know, what is this storm gonna be?

All storms have different characters,

they all have different personalities,

and a lot of times they can be pretty mean.

Man: 40 minutes out.

Enjoy the sunshine while you can.

Man: Roger. Enjoying sun.

Narrator: Noaa 42 is a scientific research plane

with the national oceanic and atmospheric administration,

or noaa.

Masters: We had a who's who

of hurricane scientists flying with us,

some of the most experienced hurricane scientists

in the world.

Narrator: By flying into the storm,

the scientists on board can precisely measure

wind speeds, temperatures, and pressure--

valuable data to help predict hugo's path

and ultimately save lives.

Jeffrey masters is noaa 42's flight director.

Masters: It's my job to guide the aircraft into the eye,

so I have to tell the pilot, "Ok, come left 10 degrees

and change your track to this particular track."

Gerry, let's go with a track of 0-7-0

until we get a little closer.

So I was issuing commands to the pilot, as well,

studying the winds,

making sure we were going to go right into the eye.

Man: Turning to 0-7-0. Thanks, jeff.

Narrator: At the controls is gerry mckim.

A navy pilot for 20 years,

he's flown into four previous hurricanes.

Gerry mckim: People think we're crazy for flying into hurricanes

and not one of us have a death wish,

not one of us want to get hurt.

We just do our job.

Mckim: What are you thinking for speed?

Man: I'm thinking we blast our way in.

Let's try to keep it at 250 knots.

Narrator: The flight's commander is lowell genzlinger,

one of the most experienced hurricane pilots in the world.

Lowell genzlinger: It's my 13th season.

This penetration was the 249th penetration.

Narrator: Since hurricane reconnaissance flights began

in the 1940s,

two u.s. Air crews have been lost,

17 people killed.

Genzlinger: I guess you probably would need to be

kind of a...maybe a risk taker, something like that, yeah.

Probably not everybody wants to do it.

Narrator: The noaa crew took off from barbados

in a p-3 orion turboprop.

It has the power it needs to penetrate the strongest storms.

Mckim: It's a very tough airplane.

It's stubby wing with four big huge engines on it.

It's very, very powerful, built like a tank.

It can take turbulence.

It can take a beating and keep on ticking,

so it's a good airplane.

Masters: The p-3s are flying laboratories,

and they've got over $10 million

worth of specialized weather equipment,

so they've got the best sort of weather picture

you can possibly get in the air.

Narrator: 45 minutes out from the storm,

noaa 42 is cruising at just under 10,000 feet.

Scientist frank marks monitors his radar

while preparing for the mission ahead.

Frank marks: We're flying out,

and we have a pretty good radar perspective.

We can see...you know, the eye was very clearly obvious,

and we were focused on getting this experiment

called the hurricane energetics experiment.

Masters: The object of this

was to study the storm's interaction with the ocean,

and in order to do that,

you need to fly at low level near the ocean.

Narrator: The mission will require noaa 42

to descend just 1,500 feet above the water

before entering the storm.

30 minutes behind noaa 42,

an air force reserve c-130 is also heading for the storm.

Man: Turn left now to track hugo on heading 0-6-6.

It will be hard to miss.

Narrator; robert katz is the navigator.

Robert katz: We were told it was a major hurricane,

and that's always just a little bit nerve-racking

and exciting at the same time.

Narrator: The planes will work together inside the storm

to get a more complete picture of hugo's strength

so they can gauge how dangerous hugo will be when it hits land.

Masters: If we stay on this heading,

we should take it in nice and straight.

We were the first aircraft to go into the storm,

and that always adds a little element of danger

because the only way you know for sure

how strong a hurricane is

is if you've actually had a flight go into it.

Narrator; at the national hurricane center in miami,

miles lawrence is also watching hugo closely.

He needs to know what kind of warning to issue

to those living in the path of the storm.

Miles lawrence: I was busy turning the crank

back at the hurricane center,

plotting the data on maps

and entering it in the computer

and trying to make my forecast.

Narrator: Hurricanes are among

the most destructive forces in nature,

causing billions of dollars in damage.

Since 1983,

they have claimed an average of 47 lives each year.

Lawrence: You can look on the satellite picture

and see that, "hey, there's something going on here,"

so we knew there was something going on,

but was it gonna get that strong?

We didn't know that,

not looking at a satellite picture.

Looks like we need to keep an eye on this one.

Genzlinger: We go in, we look around, we go home.

Mckim: That's the plan.

Narrator: While they fly,

noaa 42 will transmit regular bursts of weather data

back to the hurricane center.

Masters: There is a aircraft satellite data link,

so every 30 seconds, it just takes a snapshot

of what we're seeing with the instruments,

and so they can see the progress of the storm.

Narrator: They prepare to begin their descent.

Masters: Oh, crap!

Narrator: A crucial instrument fails.

Masters: Guys, my belly radar just went down.

Just...try that.

Check the board.

Narrator: The team is relying on two onboard radar systems

to help guide the flight through the chaotic storm.

The most critical one has suddenly gone dead.

Genzlinger: Jeff, how's the heading looking?

Narrator: Without their lower fuselage radar,

the crew is now flying partly blind.

Masters: Yeah, just stand by, lowell.

We just lost our belly radar.

Mckim: I have a nose radar.

It's a c-band radar also, just like the belly radar,

but it's not as powerful as this belly radar.

Masters: Yeah, ok, I'm coming up.

The nose radar didn't have as long a range

and we couldn't see the eye wall with it.

Just try to troubleshoot this.

I'm gonna go talk to the boss, all right?

Hey, guys, sorry about that.

Marks: Is it fixable?

Masters: I think so.

I mean, yes, yeah.

Genzlinger: That-a boy!

We got technicians and electronic engineers

on the back.

They're working,

and they have to reboot it or do whatever they do.

Narrator: The mission is in jeopardy.

Masters: This is big science, big expensive science,

and you don't want to screw up the science

by not going with the plan.

Narrator: Until they fly in,

neither crew will know exactly how ferocious

the storm really is,

but satellite images

predict winds as fast as 125 miles an hour--

the kind of winds no commercial airliner

would ever attempt to fly through.

Katz: All we knew when we took off

was it would be above a category-three hurricane,

and for the air crew

that always means a possibility of a good ride.

That's the way we term it.

Narrator: Hurricanes are rated on a scale from one to five.

A category three

means winds between 110 and 130 miles an hour.

It can destroy mobile homes and cause major flooding.

Masters: The lower fuselage radar was out about 20 minutes,

and we circled in place for that period of time,

waiting for them to fix it,

and that was about as long as we were willing to wait

because we had limited fuel to finish the mission.

Nice. That's great.

Hey, hugo, it's good to have you back.

Narrator: On noaa 42, repairs are complete.

Masters: Uh, lowell, radar's up.

Genzlinger: Knew you could do it.

Ok, no more excuses. Let's get in there.

Narrator: Masters quickly evaluates

the current status of the winds.

The storm has increased in strength.

Masters: I watched the displays of the numbers,

watching the winds come up,

and I thought to myself, ok, this is probably not so good.

I think maybe this is a little stronger

than a category-three hurricane.

Narrator: Forecasters on the ground

also see signs that hugo's winds are gaining strength.

Lawrence: How strong was it gonna get?

Was it gonna reach category five?

Were the winds gonna get to 150 miles an hour,

or were they gonna stop at 130?

I had no idea.

This storm could do some damage if it makes landfall.

Narrator: As they approach hurricane hugo,

the crew of noaa 42 prepares for their mission.

Mckim: Unless anyone has any objections...

Genzlinger: I'm good.

Marks: I'm good.

Mckim: Down we go.

Narrator: They're planning to fly through the storm

barely 1,500 feet above the ocean.

Marks: In a hurricane,

the winds are strongest down at the low level.

We call it the planetary boundary layer.

So if you're flying at 500 meters,

you're right at the level

where the winds are probably the strongest.

That's 1,500 feet.

Genzlinger: 4,000 feet.

Narrator: The low altitude

is an ideal place to study this storm.

Mckim: Steady as she goes.

Narrator: But it's also a more dangerous place to fly.

Genzlinger: 3,000.

Mckim: The lower you go into the storm,

the more violent it is.

At 20,000 feet it can still be rough,

it can still be violent,

but it's not nearly as rough or as violent

as down at 1,000 or 1,500 feet.

Masters: You don't have a big margin of error at all

if you're at 1,500 feet in a hurricane.

You could encounter downdrafts that'll drive you down

at 500 feet or maybe a thousand feet,

without the pilot being able to do anything about it.

Masters: Uh, lowell, we are drifting.

Narrator: The newly repaired radar

helps masters guide the plane into the wind.

Masters: Let's get over another 10 degrees left.

Genzlinger: Roger. 10 degrees left, track 0-8-0.

Mckim: Turning left 0-8-0, coming right up.

Narrator: After noaa 42 enters the hurricane at 1,500 feet,

the air force c-130 will follow them in

at a much higher altitude--

10,000 feet.

Katz: They preceded us by about 30 or 45 minutes

into the hurricane.

Noaa 42, this is teal 57.

Confirm your altitude through the eye wall will be 1,500 feet.

We always make contact with the noaa airplanes

to make sure that we coordinate our locations.

Genzlinger: Teal 57, noaa 42.

That's right, we are now descending to 1,500 feet.

Katz: Roger noaa 42.

Genzlinger: Ladies and gentlemen,

please fasten your seat belts

and put your trays in the upright position.

Set condition one.

Narrator: Condition one alerts the team

to buckle up and brace for heavy turbulence.

It will take 20 minutes

to fly through the outer wall of the hurricane...

With winds growing stronger and stronger

until they reach the calm eye of the storm.

Masters: All right, guys, let's do this.

I was definitely on edge as we approached hugo.

I mean, this was a big, powerful hurricane.

Narrator: Noaa 42 first enters the outer edges of the storm--

long spiral arms made of powerful thunderstorms.

Genzlinger: It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Masters: Immediately it gets dark,

and you start hearing the hammering sound of rain

on the fuselage.

And the window gets streaked with rain,

and you can see the wing tip

start to bounce up and down, up and down,

but you can't see very far.

You're kind of in this gray cocoon.

Mckim: Seriously?

It was very rough. We were being thrown around

before we even got to the eye wall--

not to the point where we were out of control;

we were just being thrown around.

Narrator: Genzlinger joins mckim on the controls.

Genzlinger: Two against one.

Now it's a fair fight.

Mckim: Yeah.

Genzlinger: The controls are connected,

so when one guy would turn it to the left,

the other guy is still on it, too,

so you're both doing a coordinated effort

to try and keep the wings level and watch the pitch.

Mckim: We don't see anything.

There's no ground reference, there's no sky reference.

You don't see anything.

You're on full instruments inside the airplane

looking at your artificial horizons,

your air speed gauges, your altitude gauges,

and whatever else tools you have in the cockpit

to guide you.

Narrator: The powerful winds are blowing the plane sideways.

To counteract the wind

and fly straight through the storm,

the pilots must keep their plane skewed to the left

at a sharp angle.

Mckim: The winds are going counterclockwise

as we're going into the eye wall,

so they're coming from my left side,

so I have to point the nose of the airplane

into the wind

to keep myself going on the same track.

It's a very intense time in the cockpit.

Genzlinger: So we were at least 45 degrees crabbing,

which means we were tracking 45 degrees right of our center,

so you got to forget where you're pointing the airplane.

You got to just think about where your track is going.

Masters: Lowell, we're getting off track.

You've got to go left five degrees.

Genzlinger: Roger. Five degrees left.

Mckim: Five degrees left.

Genzlinger: Easy does it. Not too far.

Marks: We're in heavy rain.

The wind is going up and up and up and up...

Narrator: Despite the turbulent conditions,

team members continue collecting data for the mission.

Masters: We were expecting a strong hurricane,

so, you know, the thought was well, we'll follow the plan.

Narrator: At the national hurricane center,

scientists receive a burst of data from the planes.

Lawrence: Look at those wind speeds.

Narrator: It reveals increasing wind speeds

and dropping pressure inside hugo--

a sure sign that the storm is getting worse.

Lawrence: Think this storm's going all the way?

We were thinking in terms of a category-two, three hurricane,

and now we've got something which is almost a category five.

Narrator: On board noaa 42,

jeffrey masters is coming to the same conclusion.

Masters: I hope I'm wrong.

I really hope I'm wrong.

There'd only ever been one category-five hurricane

in recorded history out this far east,

and I had never been in a hurricane

at that low an altitude that was that strong.

Narrator: A hurricane is classed as a category five

if it has sustained wind speeds of 156 miles per hour or higher.

When they hit land,

they can rip buildings clean off their foundations.

Flying through one safely

is the biggest test any pilot could face.

Mckim: Oh! Let me off this ride.

Narrator: Mckim knows that turning around is not an option.

Mckim: We don't do u-turns.

Once we make the commitment to go in, we go in.

Narrator: In such fierce crosswinds,

banking his plane to turn

could send it tumbling to the sea.

Mckim: I'm having to point the nose more to the left

because the winds are getting stronger and stronger.

Genzlinger: Let the plane find where it wants to be.

Mckim: I'm trying, but she doesn't know what she wants.

Genzlinger: In all directions, you were getting knocked around,

up and then down and then sideways.

You wonder how the airplane stayed together.

Genzlinger: You're losing altitude

and drifting too far left.

Mckim: I'll take more power.

Mother nature's got a hold of my airplane,

and she's taking it where she wants to take it--

mother nature disguised as hurricane hugo.

Narrator: Suddenly,

the plane begins banking dangerously to the right.

Masters: I'd never experienced anything like this.

There was this big kind of thundering, shaking sound.

The whole airplane just kind of quivered.

I thought maybe we were goners here.

Mckim: I'm trying to pull back on the rudders,

and I can't do it.

Mckim: I can't get the left wing down.

Genzlinger: Don't force it.

Mckim: And I look at lowell over there,

and he's doing the same thing.

Narrator: The sudden turbulence

shakes heavy equipment loose in the cabin.

Masters: We had our 200-pound life raft break loose.

Hang in there, guys.

Knives and forks from the galley were all flying around.

Extremely dangerous situation.

Mckim: We're in an angle of bank going down...

At that next second,

the number three engine fire warning light comes on.

Genzlinger: We're losing number three.

Mckim: I don't believe this.

Genzlinger: Number three engine's on fire.

Masters: I remember thinking

this is what it feels like to be in battle

and to be shot at,

and, you know, death may be coming.

Mckim: Options?

Genzlinger: Not many.

Narrator: With one engine on fire,

they're losing altitude fast.

Genzlinger: It was coming out the tailpipe--

flames for quite a distance.

We got to shut it down.

Mckim: Go.

Narrator: If the crew doesn't shut the engine down quickly,

flames could engulf the entire plane.

Genzlinger: Emergency shutdown handle!

Narrator: Pulling the handle starves the engine of fuel

and douses the flames.

But the loss of an engine

has left them in a dangerous bank,

and they're still losing altitude.

Mckim: More power.

The air speed's increasing 'cause we're going down now

and we had all the power on in the airplane,

so we have our hands full.

More power.

Genzlinger: That's all we're going to get.

The throttles are at the firewall.

Mckim: It's not enough.

Masters: The pilot lost control of the aircraft.

We started plunging downwards toward the ocean.

Mckim: The next thing that happens--

bam.

We're through the eye wall.

Oh, thank god.

Genzlinger: I've never been happier

to see the inside of a hurricane.

Narrator: The crippled plane has made a narrow escape,

emerging into the relative safety of the hurricane's eye.

Mckim: It's just a big sigh of relief--

phew. We're in the eye. Now what?

Narrator: The air in the eye is calm.

Mckim: We got to climb.

Genzlinger: Yep.

Narrator: But noaa 42 desperately needs altitude.

They're less than a thousand feet above the ocean.

Genzlinger: No way you could ditch or anything

because the waves were 60 feet high,

and, you know, who wants to go down there?

So you just wondered

how we were gonna be able to pull this thing out.

Narrator: The only way out of the storm

is back through it,

but with only three engines running,

reentering the eye wall at this low altitude

would be suicidal.

Masters: The hurricane hunters

had never been through something like this before

and survived.

Genzlinger: Let's try to get her up to 6,000.

Narrator: Their only hope

is to try to exit the eye at a higher altitude,

where the winds aren't as strong.

But with one dead engine and heavy with fuel,

the plane is struggling to climb.

Masters: I thought there was about...

I figured a one in three chance

that we weren't gonna make it back.

Narrator: There's another problem.

The eye of the storm is less than 12 miles across.

If they don't start turning,

they'll fly back into the dangerous turbulence.

Masters: We had to immediately make a decision

about how to turn to stay in the eye

because if we hit the eye wall again,

we were probably goners.

Mckim: I vote for left.

Genzlinger: Absolutely. Left.

Narrator: Noaa 42 begins a series of slow spirals

inside the eye,

but the motion of the storm

means they need constant corrections to their path.

Masters: You need to track about two points northwest.

Mckim: Yeah. I've got it.

Genzlinger: Nice flying, sir.

A hurricane like this wobbles.

They don't go in a straight line.

Each time we made a circle, the thing would move.

You think if a hurricane's gonna move,

it would just go in one direction, like it's moving,

but it just wobbles.

Masters: Everybody in one piece up here?

Genzlinger: Just barely.

Masters: You look around you,

and you're inside kind of a giant stadium.

You can kind of see the clouds slowly rotating.

It's kind of this ominous marching

of the clouds around you.

Genzlinger: Now what?

Mckim: Wait for the cavalry to arrive?

Genzlinger: Works for me.

Narrator: The strategy buys them time

to figure out what to do next.

Genzlinger: The only thing is

we didn't know what kind of shape the airplane was in

as far as structural problems, you know,

and there's nothing you can do about that.

You just wondered, you know?

Narrator: They also have no idea how much stronger hugo will get.

If wind speeds in the eye wall keep increasing,

noaa 42 may be trapped with no way out.

Masters: When a hurricane's undergoing

its initial rapid intensification cycle,

like hugo was doing,

sometimes it's able to concentrate its winds

in a very small area right around the eye.

Narrator: Their best hope

is the air force reserve c-130 still approaching in the storm.

Mckim: Noaa 42 to teal 57, we've had an emergency.

We've lost one engine.

Katz: The first thing that noaa 42 said to us

was that they had an emergency and they'd lost one engine.

And our plane became very silent.

I can remember just turning around,

looking up at the pilots.

They turned around,

they looked back in our direction,

and everybody was thinking, "Oh, no."

Narrator: The air force reserve c-130

speeds towards hurricane hugo.

Katz: Noaa 42, we're on our way.

Narrator: Its crew is responding to a call for help

from their endangered colleagues below.

Katz: There was not a whole lot that we could do.

We were two separate airplanes,

and we couldn't do a james bond movie feature

and extract them out one by one,

so we were concerned for their safety.

Narrator: Meanwhile, in the eye of the storm,

commander genzlinger

spots another potentially deadly problem.

Genzlinger: For crying out loud.

I hope you're not too attached to engine number four.

Mckim: You're kidding me.

We've dealt with one emergency.

Now we've got another emergency.

Narrator: A strip of rubber

is dangling from the front of one of the remaining engines.

The deicing boot is designed to keep the propeller clear of ice.

It's been torn loose

and could be sucked into the engine's air intake,

putting the crew in even greater jeopardy.

Genzlinger: And that engine's gonna over temp,

and you have to shut it down,

and that would have been disastrous.

Narrator: If they lose two engines on the same side,

there's no hope of making it back through the storm.

Genzlinger: Going through the eye wall on two engines

would be an impossible thing.

Narrator: Once the c-130 passes into the eye,

it might be able to fly close enough

for the crew to assess the damage.

Genzlinger: Teal 57, we're gonna need a favor.

I don't know if we can climb high enough on three engines.

Can you come down to us?

Katz: Roger noaa 42. Starting our descent.

Well, they did sound pretty calm,

but I was very unnerved by it,

and I know our crew was unnerved by it.

But they were trying to be as matter of fact as they could.

Narrator: The crew now faces a critical decision.

Genzlinger: We're too heavy to get much higher.

Mckim: Want to dump some fuel?

Narrator: Dumping fuel will make it easier to climb,

but if they dump too much,

they won't make it back to barbados,

more than 310 miles away.

Genzlinger: Uh...

I think we can spare 15,000 pounds,

but we won't be doing any sightseeing on the way home.

Prepare for fuel dump.

Masters: Ok, guys, shut off all the equipment, ok?

Everything goes dark. All right? Everything.

Narrator: Their electronic gear could spark an explosion.

Genzlinger: When you dump fuel,

it comes right out over the wing.

If anybody's talking on the radio

or got any emitters that might start a spark or anything,

you could have a fire.

Mckim: Fuel dump switch?

Genzlinger: On!

There it goes.

We dumped it for 10 or 15 minutes,

and we got rid of all the fuel that we could.

Narrator: Noaa 42 took off

with enough fuel for a nine-hour flight.

After dumping 15,000 pounds of fuel,

the tanks will be empty in about four hours.

Mckim: My engines are still putting out

the same amount of power,

and now i've just lost weight,

and now my wings,

with the amount of lift that they're generating,

can actually pull me up higher.

Genzlinger: Come on, you piece of crap!

Narrator: Above them,

the air force plane powers into the eye of the storm.

Katz: Stand by, noaa 42.

We'll begin getting into position now.

Narrator: To meet inside the hurricane,

noaa 42 needs to climb while the air force plane descends.

The two crews must coordinate their air speed and bank angle

to keep from slamming into hugo's treacherous eye wall.

It's beyond dangerous.

Katz: Noaa 42, we see you.

Narrator: Pilots would never risk doing this

if lives weren't at stake.

Katz: We coordinated our positions,

and once we saw each other, it was purely done visually.

Genzlinger: No sudden moves. They're on us.

Katz: And as we got closer,

we flew within about a thousand feet of the other airplane.

Narrator: One slight miscalculation,

and the two planes could collide.

Masters: The close fly-by that the pilot of teal 57 did

with the pilot of n42-rf

in the eye of a category-five hurricane

with a shrinking eye of only 10 miles diameter...

One of the most remarkable feats of aviation ever attempted.

Katz: We tried to see if there were any panels missing.

That would have been a big concern

because if a panel was loose

and eventually broke away from the airplane,

it could have gotten caught up in a propeller,

which would have been a very serious thing.

And they also had an engine fire,

so they wanted us to see

if there were any visible signs of fire still remaining.

We didn't see any of that.

Noaa 42, you look like you're still in one piece

other than that deicing boot.

Mckim: They eyeballed us

and said they don't see any damage.

Narrator: Moments later, there's more good news.

Genzlinger: I'll be damned.

Deicing boot's gone.

Mckim: Best news i've heard all day.

Narrator: The deicing boot has blown off

without damaging the engine.

Genzlinger: That was a relief to see that that thing's gone

when it was.

Teal 57, we need another favor.

We can't stay in here.

Fuel's gonna be an issue very soon.

Can you help us find a soft spot?

Katz: Roger that. We'll see what we can find.

Masters: We asked them very nicely,

"Could you please go in and out of the eye wall of hugo

a couple different places to find a soft spot for us?

And please do it at the altitude that we're maxed out at,

which is 6,000 feet."

Katz: They were asking us for a way out of the storm.

As a crew, we got together and we decided to go ahead

and continue making our penetrations exiting the storm.

We asked noaa

if they could delay in the eye a little longer,

and they did that.

Narrator: On board noaa 42,

there's nothing to do but wait...

Genzlinger: We got to get out of here.

Narrator: And hope they don't run out of fuel.

Masters: Now, we'd almost gotten killed going in at 1,500 feet,

so it was very brave of them to agree to this request

to go in and out of the eye of hugo

multiple times at 6,000 feet.

Mckim: Any word yet, guys?

Katz: Noaa 42, I think I have something for you.

Narrator: The air force plane has found a possible exit point.

Katz: Try the northeast quadrant.

That was what we determined

would be the better of the headings for them to try.

It would be the best one

with the least amount of turbulence for them.

Genzlinger: Roger. Northeast quadrant.

We'll see you back at base.

Mckim: Let's hope they're right.

Narrator: The crew prepares for a second perilous trip

through the wall of a category-five hurricane.

Masters: Things that we couldn't really strap down

we just threw into the loo and closed the door

and figured they would just stay in there and rattle around.

The most dangerous thing that we had coming up

was the turbulence going through the eye wall again.

Narrator: Noaa 42 is going to try to punch through the storm

at 6,000 feet.

They hope the winds at this altitude

will be less destructive.

Genzlinger: Set condition one.

Masters: At that point,

we really didn't have much choice.

We were low on fuel.

Our pilot said, "We're going for it.

Set condition one. Put on your seat belts.

We're heading out of the eye."

We weren't confident at all

that we wouldn't just suddenly have a failure

and go splashing into the atlantic ocean.

Genzlinger: We had to go through the rain bands

and weave our way through

the exterior parts of the hurricane.

Masters: We were very concerned on the flight back

that we weren't gonna make it.

Narrator: The air force crew has chosen the exit point well.

There is far less turbulence at this altitude.

Genzlinger: That's more like it.

Narrator: After a tense 20-minute journey

back through the storm that nearly killed them,

the crew finally escapes hugo's powerful grasp.

Masters: The sun was shining above us,

and I said, "Hallelujah, praise god,

we're going home."

Oh, my god.

Genzlinger: What a day!

Mckim: Got a little too close for comfort, if you ask me.

Teal 57, we're out, and...

I think we owe you one.

Katz: All part of the service.

We'll see you guys back on dry land.

Narrator: After their harrowing ordeal,

gerry mckim and lowell genzlinger

get their plane and everyone on board

safely back to barbados.

Genzlinger: I don't think it sunk in till we got home,

what we really went through.

Narrator: Now it's up to noaa pilot and safety officer

terry laydon

to investigate why a crew of skilled hurricane hunters

was nearly killed on the job.

Terry laydon: A lot's at stake

that could be repeated if you didn't figure out why.

Laydon: First thing I want to do is tear that engine apart.

Narrator: Between september 17th and the 22nd,

hugo devastates st. Croix,

then tears through charleston, south carolina.

The storm inflicts more than $9 billion in damage

and claims 49 lives.

But more might have died

if not for the work of the hurricane hunters,

who helped sound the alarm

by accurately predicting hugo's path.

Genzlinger: Set condition one.

Narrator: Noaa 42

has flown safely through dozens of other hurricanes.

Masters: All right, guys, let's do this.

Narrator: Investigators need to know

why this mission was so harrowing.

They begin with a close examination

of the engine that caught fire.

Laydon: We called in a navy maintenance engineering crew

from naval air station jacksonville.

Let me see that again.

These folks can pull an airplane apart,

put it back together, and look at every aspect of it.

Masters: It's getting a little bumpy.

Narrator: They suspect the severe turbulence

somehow damaged the engine.

Mckim: Whoa.

Narrator: But they don't know how.

Mckim: Oh! Let me off this ride!

Narrator: Data from a sensor in the cockpit

reveals how severe that turbulence was.

Laydon: Pulling a lot of gs in that cockpit.

Narrator: The g-meter uses sensors

to detect the aircraft's motion

and calculate how much stress it's being subjected to.

Mckim: I can't get the left wing down.

Genzlinger: Don't force it.

Narrator: The g-forces

are some of the most powerful ever recorded in any hurricane,

and far beyond what the plane was designed to withstand.

Laydon: The p-3 can handle

up to 3 and a half positive gs and 1 negative g.

The g-meter recorded stresses of 5.8 positive gs

and 3.7 negative gs.

Narrator: But the question remains...

Did the severe turbulence somehow cause the engine fire?

Investigators find an unexpected answer.

Laydon: This had nothing to do with the storm.

Narrator: The turbulence was not a factor in the fire.

Laydon: They determined that the fuel control unit

was the problem.

Narrator: A broken sensor couldn't properly regulate

the amount of fuel flowing to the engine.

Laydon: The maintenance folks

said the turbulence, the addition of power,

had nothing to do with that failure.

Narrator: Navy records reveal

that the same problem has been reported on other planes.

Laydon: And as it turns out,

the navy has a history of this kind of problem.

Narrator: When the sensor failed,

it fed too much fuel to the engine

and it ignited into a stream of flames.

Genzlinger: We're losing number three!

Mckim: I don't believe this.

Narrator: It was just an unlucky coincidence

that the failure happened during this flight.

Laydon: It could have happened on takeoff.

It could have happened en route to the hurricane.

Genzlinger: You got to shut it down.

It could have happened anytime.

It's just incredible that it happened

at the worst possible time.

Genzlinger: Emergency shutdown handle!

Narrator: Even though the storm did not cause the engine fire,

it did damage the plane.

Genzlinger: Hope you're not too attached to engine number four.

Mckim: You're kidding me.

Narrator: The storm deicing boot

threatened to knock out a second engine,

which would have led to certain disaster.

Masters: We were worried

that it would get caught in the propeller

and shut down the number four engine,

but we got lucky, that didn't happen.

Narrator: They wonder why hugo contained

such unusually strong turbulence.

When the team studies

all the scientific data from the flight,

they find their answer.

Marks: No wonder we had problems.

Narrator: The violent winds that rocked their plane

were caused by an unusual weather phenomenon

that's never been seen before.

The eye wall of the storm

was dotted with tornado-like areas called mesovortices,

where wind speeds reached 200 miles an hour.

Noaa 42 was unlucky enough to fly directly into one.

Investigators are left with an important question

about the future of hurricane research flights.

Mckim: Unless anyone has any objections...

Genzlinger: I'm good.

Marks: I'm good.

Narrator: When the next major storm hits...

Mckim: Down we go.

Narrator: How can they keep hurricane hunters safer

when they fly into the eye of a storm?

Investigators interview each member

of the hurricane hunting crew.

Marks: We'd been in at 1,500 before,

and it was fine.

We weren't thinking about what could happen.

We were making decisions based on past experience,

based on past knowledge,

not expecting the unexpected.

Masters: We didn't have long to look at the storm

before the radar went out.

Oh, crap!

Guys, my belly radar just went down.

Narrator: The broken radar system

left them less time to evaluate the storm

and made a stressful situation even worse.

In hindsight, flight director jeffrey masters

thinks the mission could have been made safer.

Genzlinger: Set condition one.

Masters: We should not have been going in at that low an altitude

with a full bag of fuel.

Genzlinger: We're too heavy to get much higher.

Mckim: Want to dump some fuel?

Masters: When you start off a mission,

you've got a heavy fuel load,

and that puts more stress on the wings.

Genzlinger: I think we can spare 15,000 pounds.

Masters: It makes sense to go in at a higher altitude

and then maybe do the mission at a lower altitude later

when you've got less fuel.

Genzlinger: We go in, we look around, we go home.

Mckim: That's the plan.

Laydon: They were doing their best

to support the scientific mission.

Genzlinger: By doing the lower work first,

it was decided that everyone would be fresh

so that we could, you know,

get things over with early in the flight.

Mckim: Steady as she goes.

Laydon: But sometimes a little more discretion is warranted,

and it would have been very helpful, I believe,

in this case.

Narrator: After this incident,

noaa made a number of changes to keep hurricane hunters safer.

The first plane into the storm

now flies in no lower than 5,000 feet,

where the updrafts and downdrafts

are much less violent.

Mckim: I think that's a very, very good safety recommendation.

After you kind of figure out what the storm's all about,

then you can go in and do your hardcore,

really, really nitty-gritty research

and get that plane down

where it can give you the numbers you need,

the ground truth, everything,

and make sure that everything you're doing is safe.

Masters: Lowell, radar's up.

Narrator: They also ensure

that crews always review the mission strategy

before flying into a storm.

Marks: People have asked me many times

why we keep flying in hurricanes.

You've been doing it for 32 years.

Why do you need to keep doing it?

And I say, "Because every time I go there,

I see something different.

I learn something new."

Narrator: Meteorologists hope the discoveries made by noaa 42

will help improve hurricane forecasts

and save lives.

Mckim: It costs millions and millions of dollars

to evacuate a mile of coastline,

so if we can get... Let's say down to a mile,

how magical would that be,

that we only had to evacuate maybe a 10-mile strip

and know that we were pretty darn good at doing that?

I think that's a goal.

Narrator: Noaa 42 was repaired

and went on to fly into more than 30 hurricanes

without another serious incident.

Katz: Hugo was one of those unforgettable hurricanes

from an air crew point of view.

In my entire career,

i've had a couple of hundred hurricane penetrations.

I don't remember them all, but I remember hugo.

Mckim: I'll take more power.

I always think that I was up there for a reason.

I was up there to do my job.

Go.

Genzlinger: I think he did a fantastic job

of handling the airplane.

Nice flying, sir.

And everybody on the airplane worked well.

Masters: Hang in there, guys.

We were in the wrong place at the wrong time

in a bad part of the ocean,

and we're very lucky to be alive.

Oh, hallelujah.