NOAA Pilots & Scientists Flew Into Melissa's 185 MPH Winds w/o Pay - 2 Flights Had To Abort
The NOAA pilots and scientists flying aboard hurricane hunter aircraft into Hurricane Melissa’s 185-mile per hour winds are not being paid during the government shutdown, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed Tuesday. “Due to the ongoing federal government shutdown and last week’s failed measure in the Senate to pay essential workers, no NOAA employees are being paid at this time,” NOAA spokesperson Kim Doster said in an emailed statement.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Jamaica as a Category 5 storm at roughly 1 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, according to NOAA’s National Hurricane Center. Melissa is expected to be the most powerful storm on record to pass through the Caribbean.
The federal government’s hurricane hunters have continued to fly despite the shutdown. At least two missions — one operated by NOAA on Monday and the second by the Air Force on Tuesday — were aborted when pilots experienced dangerous turbulence passing through the hurricane.
The government shutdown, now in its 28th day, has resulted in the furloughs of “nonessential” employees, including at NOAA. But National Weather Service staffers and other employees working on forecasts and other duties monitoring extreme weather are required to keep working. Rick Spinrad, the former NOAA administrator who has been critical the Trump administration’s management of NOAA, said, “Flying repeatedly through a powerful hurricane is a true test of one’s mettle. Doing so without any assurances of being paid is solid testimony to one’s service to their country.”
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https://www.eenews.net/articles/noaa-hurricane-hunter-crews-researchers-flying-without-pay/
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