Did a private jet fly through the eye of Hurricane Helene on the evening of September 26, 2024, when it was a powerful Category 4 storm? No, that's not true: Experts contacted by Lead Stories said it appears the flight either flew over the top or passed through a "ragged" eyewall on its southern side, where there was blue sky. There's no evidence the plane flew through the center of the storm's eye rather than skirting the edge.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly Twitter, on September 26, 2024. The post's caption said:
Someone just flew through the eye of Category 4 Hurricane Helene in a private jet.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 15:01:52 2024 UTC)
The post provided no additional evidence to support its assertion that the private plane flew through the eye of the storm
Flightradar24
Ian Petchenik, director of communications at Flightradar24, a global flight-tracking service, said the flight path of the plane doesn't tell the whole story. The image in the social media post showed the registration or tail number of the aircraft, N610FP, which allowed Lead Stories to review the flight information. The tail number is circled in red below:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 15:01:52 2024 UTC)
Flightradar24 (archived here) showed the Learjet 60 flew from Hooks Memorial Airport (DWH) in Houston at 5:28 p.m. EDT on September 26, 2024, and arrived at Orlando Executive Airport (ORL) at 7:22 p.m. EDT the same day. Both times are approximate. The storm made landfall less than four hours later, around 11 p.m. EDT.
A screenshot of the flight path on the Flightradar24 website showed the route the plane took, including the same jog to the southeast (yellow box) it made near the eye of Helene in the image on social media. Additionally, it showed the jet flying at 45,000 feet or above (red box) as it flew nearer to the center of the storm. Its cruising altitude was 41,000 feet before that:
(Source: Flightradar24 screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 17:28:26 2024 UTC)
Petchenik, who is also co-host of the AvTalk podcast, said in a September 27, 2024, email that, for him, the plane's altitude is a key clue that shows the aircraft didn't fly through the storm's eye:
At 45,000 feet, the aircraft will have been over the top of the storm. I'm not sure of the precise top of the hurricane, but a normal aircraft would not purposefully fly into the storm itself.
FlightAware
Another flight-tracking company, FlightAware (archived here), provided similar details (red box) on the plane's Houston-to-Orlando route -- again, the jet rising in altitude from 41,000 feet to 45,000 feet to climb above the eye of the storm:
(Source: FlightAware screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 19:00:19 2024 UTC)
FlightAware spokesperson Kathleen Bangs, a former commercial airline pilot, told Lead Stories in a September 27, 2024, email that she based her analysis on the radar image in the social media post; specifically, the lower half of Helene's eyewall, or the clouds and turbulent weather that ring the eye of the storm. Bangs said:
Looking at that image - if it is correct - you can see the jet tracks near the eye passing through radar intensities of green and yellow, but no red areas. Red is typically associated with the most significant rainfall and/or turbulence.
When airliners crisscross the U.S. during thunderstorm season, one area they always try to avoid is any red returns on a radar screen.
Bangs continued:
You can see that the pilot took up a more southeasterly (versus easterly) direction and track as he approached the eyewall, although in that image the eyewall on the south side looks rather ragged - we see clear sky in the middle - but no severe thunderstorm buildups on the south side.
This closeup from the social media post illustrates what Bangs was referring to. It shows the relatively clean air the pilot decided to fly through in the storm on the way to Orlando:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 15:01:52 2024 UTC)
Whether the plane flew over the top of the hurricane's eye or skirted around the edge where the eyewall was, the jet did not fly directly through it.
Read more
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims about hurricanes can be found here.
