220621 Typhoon

This was the type plane we were flying while chashing the typhoon. The radar screen shown was on the 250 mile range in every direction, so you can see the typhoon covered close to 200 mile across.

I watched a film yesterday that had a wicked storm in it. That reminded me of a typhoon we were monitoring in 1965. It was perhaps the worst one I was ever involved in. We were flying it across the pacific ocean. The storm was a real monster. We had to fly along the outer winds to keep the eye of the storm within our radar range. We had hours of bouncing, pitching and rolling, hitting up drafts, where the plane would lift several hundred feet in seconds, pushing us into our seat with tremendous pressure and then the downdrafts would put our stomachs up into our chests. Even the saltiest, well seasoned crewmembers were vomiting, once the smell filled the plane others were vomiting or gagging. It was a long flight for all concerned. I was the only one who did not vomit because I had nothing to eat that day, so there was nothing in my stomach to lose.