On Thursday, April 17th, NOAA's P-3 Orion Hurricane Hunter Aircraft stopped at the Apalachicola Municipal Airport in Apalachicola, Florida. This was the fourth stop in a five stop tour along the Gulf of Mexico for the P-3 hurricane hunter aircraft. Onboard the plane were the new Director of the National Hurricane Center, the Director of the Southern Region of the National Weather Service, representatives from FEMA, and of course the crew of the P-3 aircraft. The purpose of the Hurricane Awareness Tour is to raise awareness of hurricanes and their dangers along the Gulf of Mexico.

During the day, the P-3 aircraft was the focus of several groups of 4th and 5th grade elementary school students. These students spent time touring the airplane, speaking with the flight crew, learning about hurricanes from National Weather Service meteorologists, and touring displays presented by various state and local agencies like the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the Red Cross, the Apalachicola Estuary Reserve, and the Florida State University Department of Meteorology. The students at this stop also got to tour the Mobile Command Vehicle used by Florida Division of Emergency Management's State Emergency Response Team.

The public was also invited to attend the event.

For additional information, see NOAA's Press Release on the event.