A hurricane scientist recorded his final flight while NOAA sprinkled his ashes into Milton’s eye

On By Yukito

Jan Rabi
| Related press

As an award-winning scientist, Peter Dodge flew hundreds of flights into the eyes of hurricanes – almost 400. On Tuesday, the crew of a reconnaissance flight over Hurricane Milton helped him make one more flight, dropping his ashes into the storm as a lasting tribute to the longtime National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration radar specialist and researcher .

“It’s very touching,” Dodge’s sister, Shelley Dodge, said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press. “We knew NOAA’s goal was to make this a reality.”

The ashes were released into the eye of the hurricane Tuesday evening, less than 24 hours before Milton made landfall on Siesta Key near Sarasota, Florida. The in-flight observation log, which includes information such as position and wind speed, ended with a mention of the Dodge’s 387th – and final – flight.

“He loved that aspect of his job,” Shelley Dodge said. “It’s bittersweet. On the one hand, a hurricane is coming, and we don’t want that for people. But then again, I really wanted it to happen.

Dodge died in March 2023 at age 72 of complications from a fall and a stroke, his sister said.

The Miami resident spent 44 years in federal service. His awards included several awards for technology used to study the devastating winds of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

He was also a crew member on a reconnaissance flight over Hurricane Hugo in 1989, which experienced severe turbulence and one of the four engines caught fire.

“They were almost out of sight,” Shelley Dodge said.

Items on the plane were torn apart and scattered around the cabin. After dropping excess fuel and some heavy instruments to allow for further climb, the inspection found no major damage to the aircraft and the flight continued. According to NOAA, the plane ultimately emerged from the storm with no injuries to its crew members.

A degenerative eye disease eventually prevented Dodge from making further reconnaissance flights.

Shelley Dodge said NOAA kept her updated on the date of her brother’s final mission, and she passed the information on to relatives.

“There were different moments when you thought all the pieces would fall into place, but it had to be the right combination, a research flight. It all had to come together,” she said. “Eventually it was 8. I wasn’t sure until they sent me an official printout that showed exactly where it happened in the eye.

Dodge had advanced knowledge of radar technology and a keen interest in tropical cyclones, according to the March 2023 bulletin from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory that announced his death.

He collaborated with the National Hurricane Center and the Air Operations Center on air and land radar research. During hurricane aircraft missions, he served as the onboard radar scientist and performed radar analyses. He later became an expert in radar data processing, according to the bulletin.

Dodge’s ashes were in the package. Among the symbols emblazoned on him was the flag of Nepal, where he taught high school math and science as a Peace Corps volunteer before becoming a meteorologist.

Dodge, an avid gardener, also enjoyed bamboo and was involved in the Japanese martial art of Aikido, attending a session the weekend before his death.

“He simply had an intellectual curiosity that he continued to pursue even after he lost his sight,” Shelley Dodge said.