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April 24, 2007
Michelle Coats, APR
Community Information SpecialistDaytona Beach International Airport hosts NOAA's P-3 Orion Hurricane Hunter May 4
Hurricane season is just around the corner. To heighten hurricane awareness and citizen preparedness, the National Weather Service is bringing a highly specialized P-3 Orion hurricane hunter aircraft to Daytona Beach International Airport Friday, May 4. The P-3’s appearance is the highlight of the NOAA 2007 Hurricane Awareness Tour. Attendees will have an opportunity to tour the aircraft and meet the P-3 flight crew members who challenge the storm’s wind and rain so forecasters can plot a hurricane’s strength and motion as it approaches land.
There will be a news conference in front of the aircraft at 10 a.m. just east of the passenger terminal, in the employee parking lot. Participants will be William Proenza, Director, National Hurricane Center; Craig Fugate, Director, Florida Division of Emergency Management; Frank Bruno, Volusia County Council Chair; Jim Ryan, Director of Emergency Services of Volusia County; and Bart Hagemeyer, Meteorologist in Charge of the National Weather Service in Melbourne.
“We’re honored to host this significant emergency preparedness event,” said Bruno. “I expect some significant, new information to come from this event. It’s also an opportunity to meet the new hurricane center director.”
Local leaders have been invited to a special hurricane workshop as part of this event. A briefing for the local officials will be followed by a tour of P-3 Orion hurricane hunter aircraft. Attendees will meet Proenza, the new director of the National Hurricane Center, and be briefed by National Hurricane Center forecasters on tropical cyclones and operations at the hurricane center.
The NOAA P-3 Orion is one of the world’s premier research aircraft. It participates in a wide variety of meteorological and oceanographic environmental research programs as well as its widely known use in hurricane research and reconnaissance.
The day also is an educational event for more than 400 local students. Volusia County students (10 a.m.-2 p.m.) and the general public (3-4:30 p.m.) will have an opportunity to tour the P-3 Orion hurricane hunter and be briefed on hurricane preparedness by the National Weather Service and the several agencies represented by a static display.
Volusia County Emergency Management has organized about 10 static display aircraft and vehicles including National Guard Humvees, a Blackhawk helicopter, local police, fire apparatus and Red Cross emergency response vehicle.
A special media/VIP tour is scheduled following the student tours. Then, the public will be invited on board.
P-3 Orion Hurricane Hunter Agenda
Date: May 4, 2007
Time:
- 9:30 a.m. P-3 scheduled to land at DBIA (photo opportunity)
- 10:00 a.m. News Conference, at the aircraft
- 10:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Student Tours
- 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Media / VIP Tour
- 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Public Tours
Location: East of Passenger Terminal, Daytona Beach International Airport (follow signs); there will be a media staging area just outside the airfield. All persons must be accompanied by an escort beyond that point. Easiest way to access the parking lot is to take Coral Sea Rd from Richard Petty Boulevard.
Editor’s Note: News media who want to schedule one-on-one interviews with the briefing team should contact Dennis Decker, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Weather Service, at 321-254-6083 (office) or 321-536-9242 (cell).
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