In early August, Hurricane Hector became a major, Category 4 hurricane in the Pacific Ocean. At its closest, Hector came within 200 miles south of Hawaii Island. NOAA dispatched an aircraft, a Gulfstream 4, from its hurricane hunting fleet to Hawaii to collect data for better forecasting the track of Hector. It’s during that mission that the world was quickly made aware of its historical significance because it was the first NOAA hurricane hunting mission piloted by an all-female crew. We’re stoked to have one of these ladies, Lt. Commander Rebecca Waddington, on the podcast today to share her amazing story.   Rebecca returned to Hawaii two more times during the 2018 Pacific hurricane season. One of those missions was to gather data to help forecast the track of Hurricane Lane, a major Category 5 hurricane that made national news as it got dangerously close to Hawaii. Luckily for Hawaii residents and visitors, Lane quickly lost strength as it moved into Hawaiian waters.   Resources https://www.flymauihi.com/ http://flyjonesboro.com/ http://thealoha360.com/ http://www.noaa.gov/ http://www.noaa.gov/marine-aviation https://www.omao.noaa.gov/learn/noaa-commissioned-officer-corps https://www.ed.gov/stem https://www.ninety-nines.org/ https://www.wai.org/   Social Media links: Rebecca: @pilotbex (Twitter), @rjwaddington (IG) NOAA’s Office of Marine & Aviation Operations: @NOAA_HurrHunter (Twitter), @noaaomao (IG)   Get a Kore Aviation headset! Use this link and you’ll save 10% at checkout: https://www.koreheadset.com/discount/FLIGHTSCHOOL?rfsn=1947882.ec1885&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1947882.ec1885   What’s Next? COMMENT on www.flymauihi.com FOLLOW us on social media at @flymauihi, @johncaubble, @lcaubble SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider