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An intrepid team of hurricane hunters was mercilessly tossed by rocky turbulence while flying right into the eye of Hurricane Melissa, according to wild footage shared by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center captured the buildup to a rough bout of turbulence aboard the Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft, affectionately nicknamed “Kermit.”
A trio of storm chasers sat up front in the cockpit, accompanied by a keychain of Kermit the Frog dangling over the dashboard.
An outside view showed a touch of blue skies off to the side of the aircraft while the crew plowed into the eye of Hurricane Melissa, which wreaked havoc throughout the Caribbean islands on Tuesday and Wednesday.
As the hunters pressed forward, all the mirrors were quickly obscured by thick clouds.
Just a few seconds after entering the storm, the Kermit keychain started to dance while the crew members held on to the controls with a white-knuckle grip, according to the video.
Roughly a minute in, the entire aircraft trembled against the force of the hurricane. The passengers were forcefully thrown upwards, with the videographer nearly smacking his camera against the ceiling, before the aircraft settled again.
All the while, not a single person on board made a peep.
The goal of the treacherous journey into the heart of one of the most volatile hurricanes to ever hit the Caribbean islands was “to collect critical data that helps improve forecasts and research,” according to the NOAA.
The layman viewers, though, were quickly humbled by the hunters’ tenacity — and their otherworldly levelheadedness.
“I love when these are posted because it makes me look like such a pansy for hating moderate turbulence,” one person commented.
“I’m absolutely amazed by how stable and powerful those planes are, to safely carry around brass balls as big and heavy as those pilot’s,” another added.
“The f–king minerals these guys have!” one user guffawed.
“I will never complain about the turbulence again during my flight…never,” another promised.
On Tuesday, one crew with the US Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron had to turn back after experiencing dangerous turbulence.
Hurricane Melissa battered Jamaica after making landfall as a Category 5 storm on Tuesday. It left much of the island nation without power and entire towns underwater before moving into Cuba as a Category 3 storm shortly after midnight Wednesday.
Cuba was a little more prepared and evacuated more than 500,000 people ahead of the hurricane.
Haiti, though, wasn’t as fortunate. As of Wednesday, at least 25 people were killed during the storm and another 18 are still missing, according to a statement from Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency.
