As officials in Florida urge those in the path of Hurricane Milton to evacuate or face bleak chances of survival, The Associated Press reported that on Wednesday an Air Force Reserve unit called the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron moved into the center of the storm be.

It was piloted by Captain Nate Wordal to collect weather data for the National Hurricane Center.

Check out the flight below.

Wordal spoke with WTOP’s Anne Kramer and Shawn Anderson about the flight.

Listen to the full interview below or read the transcript. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Captain Nate Wordal speaks with WTOP’s Shawn Anderson and Anne Kramer about his thoughts on flying into Hurricane Milton

Anne Kramer: Tell us what it was like. We know you flew into Hurricane Milton. Can you give us a picture of what it looked, sounded and felt like?

Nate Wordal: Absolutely ma’am. Hurricane Milton is a rapidly strengthening hurricane, as you’ve seen on the news, and it was quite a beast. We were thrown back and forth quite a bit and had some really intense sections. It sounds like every crew that has shown up has had a pretty rough ride so far. We just focus a lot on safety and all the precautions we can take to get this job done safely and efficiently.

Shawn Anderson: What information are you trying to gather for the forecasters at the National Hurricane Center?

Nate Wordal: We collect data during the storm. We place what we call “drop signs” wherever they tell us pressure, wind speed, dew point, etc., and we send that data in real time to the National Hurricane Center and do a process called “repairing the storm.” This is where we fly through the Side and fight our way through the eye wall to the middle. We find the exact center of the eye. We mark it again, drop another weather instrument, and send that information to the National Hurricane Center so they can add it to their models for a better forecast.

Anne Kramer: With all due respect, the work you do sounds so easy. And we all think, “Oh my God, how dangerous and how complicated it is.” So what was that like? And help us better understand, Captain, what it looks like to fly that far into a storm?

Nate Wordal: It’s very surreal and very intense in some places. Everyone on the crew is so focused at the moment on completing their job successfully and safely and doing it to the best of their ability that it’s only afterwards that you think about how crazy everything was just because you’re so focused. At the moment it’s about everyone to protect and get your work done.

Shawn Anderson: There’s a lot of talk now that this storm, Hurricane Milton, could be one of the worst, if not the worst, to hit Florida’s west coast in a century. What was the worst storm you or your team were in. Can you describe that to us?

Nate Wordal: We’ve done so many. I would say the worst thing I personally experienced was Hurricane Larry, I think about a year ago. We’ve never really been pushed around like that. My fourth season is coming up and thank God the hurricane didn’t really hit any populated areas. It basically flowed into the sea. But you get caught in some of these storms, and just the magnitude of the updrafts, downdrafts, lightning and hail can really throw you off if you let it. But I know that with the recent storms that hit the States, a lot of the crews were really shaken up, and it sounds like Milton has done that to a lot of us over the last few days.

Anne Kramer: Will you be flying into the storm again soon? I know once it lands it usually gets weaker.

Nate Wordal: Personally, I’m not on the schedule for the next day. We have a lot of reservists available and are therefore heading there with a full complement. But if there are follow-up missions after that, then definitely.

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