Remote controlled planes to explore hurricanes

By Jim Loney

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. researchers are ramping up their use of unmanned, remote-controlled airplanes this year to penetrate the heart of Atlantic hurricanes in the hope of learning more about what makes the giant storms tick.

But they will be flying the rugged drones from the eastern Caribbean island of Barbados because American aviation authorities won't let them launch the tiny aircraft from U.S. soil out of concern they could endanger other planes.

Nonetheless, storm researchers are confident their drones, which resemble hobbyists' model airplanes but can be controlled by satellites, will give them a more complete picture of the core of cyclones than they've ever had before.

The drones can fly into the eye of a storm just 300 feet

above the sea surface and send back a constant stream of temperature, pressure, wind and humidity readings.

"It can get measurements we couldn't get otherwise," said Joe Cione, a research meteorologist with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"That area of the storm is critical because that's where the maximum winds are. It will give us a better understanding of where the energy is extracted out of the sea."

Made by Australia's Aerosonde Pty Ltd. and worth between $50,000 and $80,000, the unmanned aircraft measure just 7-feet