Flying into the eye of Irma

There may be no other job on the planet that seems as risky as the one Nick Underwood does.

He’s a hurricane hunter and today he was on the crew that flew a plane — intentionally — into Hurricane Irma, providing this video this afternoon on Facebook, and Twitter.

Despite all the gadgetry that keeps an eye on the weather, humankind still needs to fly airplanes into hurricanes to see what their intentions are. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is flying the missions around the clock.

Near the end of the video, things tend to calm down a bit. The turbulence and rain subside, and the sun is even out a little.

They’re in the eye of Irma.