Hurricane Hunters brief mission to POTUS at interagency preseason hurricane event

It's not every day that a unit gets invited to participate in an event that informs the President of the United States about interagency efforts to prepare for and respond to hurricanes.

That day turned out to be May 18 for one 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron WC-130J Super Hercules aircrew and 403rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron members, assigned to the 403rd Wing, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi.

Upon the invitation of Ken Graham, the National Hurricane Center director, the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters joined up with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to showcase their missions, aircraft and equipment as part of the presidential briefing at a hangar at Joint Base Andrews.

A WC-130J Super Hercules, a NOAA WP-3D Orion and Gulfstream IV-SP and a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, and FEMA trucks were on display as part of a brief that the Department of Commerce, NOAA, NHC, FEMA, Department of Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development and other top officials provide to the president annually in preparation for the upcoming hurricane season, which starts June 1 and lasts until Nov. 30. This is the first year that the static displays were part of the briefing, according to Graham.

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