NOAA, Far More Than Just Hurricane

By Jamie Beckett

Not so long ago, Kenneth Brewer was a student at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. His heart was set on becoming an officer in the U.S. Marines. His specific goal was to become what was once known as a Flying Leatherneck – a U.S. Marine pilot. That goal shifted dramatically after he attended a career fair while in college. Brewer met a pilot there who was dressed in a peculiar uniform he didn’t recognize. Brewer wondered, “Why are you dressed like an astronaut but you have the rank of a Naval officer.” He simplified his question and posed it to this oddly attired gentleman, “What are you?” It turned out he was a P3 Orion pilot. A true Hurricane Hunter.

That chance encounter led Brewer to revise his goals and seek out a deeply satisfying career with NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Today he wears the rank of Lt. JG (Lieutenant junior grade) as a DHC-6 pilot and Programs Officer for perhaps the least well understood branch of the United States Services. His call sign is, The Mayor.

When asked if he thinks the general public is aware of what NOAA is and the importance of the missions they carry out, Brewer replies simply, “Most people aren’t.” Little wonder. A quick visit to the NOAA website will confirm that NOAA’s reach extends “from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor.” That is an impressively large area of operation. One few of us think of as our own domain. But NOAA does.

Unlike the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines which all fall under the Department of Defense, NOAA falls under the umbrella of the Commerce Department, and for good reason. They deal in science with a mission to monitor and protect the nation by using the knowledge they acquire in the course of doing their work.

“On the officer’s side we are the ship drivers,” Brewer explains. “We are the pilots. We’re the aviators, the navigators. We do all the line office work.” Even a short conversation with The Mayor makes it clear that NOAA and its staff do far more exciting, important, and challenging work than most people even dream possible. “On the civilian side we have meteorologists, technicians, engineers, mechanics, and support staff.”

Based out of a purpose-built structure that encloses approximately 270,000 square feet of hangars, offices, and storage, NOAA is the driver for a host of impressive operations that range from the Arctic Circle to the tropics.

Another way NOAA differs from the other branches of service is that NOAA is small. “We are the smallest service,” Brewer admits. A staff of just 321 commissioned officers work hand in hand with the organization’s more than 11,000 civilian employees to protect the nation’s resources and environment through scientific research. Science. That’s what hooked Brewer after considering his options following that career fair when he was in college. “I get to be an officer who serves my nation,” says Brewer. “While doing science in the fringes of the Arctic and down in these horrible hurricanes down in the Caribbean. And, I still get to be a pilot.”

The lifestyle and the work appealed to Brewer as much as the people he got to work with at NOAA. “They have a lot of my same interests,” he acknowledges. “They love being outside. They love science.” With a chuckle he suggests, “These are basically nerds that fly and go to sea.”

Perhaps the best-known aspect of NOAA’s work is their fleet of Hurricane Hunter aircraft. The turboprop powered P3 Orions fly into the heart of the storms at between 8,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level. The scientists inside those aircraft are taking measurements and determining the strength of the beast as it treks toward the mainland.

Above the fray flies a NOAA Gulfstream G-IV, soon to be replaced by a G-V. The jet flies high, in the realm of 41,000 to 45,000 feet to monitor the storm and track its movements.