There are plenty of ways to appreciate the power of a Category 5 hurricane. Flying straight into one might be the most terrifying.

Footage from NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters shows a WP-3D aircraft punching through Hurricane Polo’s violent eyewall before emerging into the surreal calm of the storm’s eye.

One clip looks upward at blue sky surrounded by towering white clouds; another, filmed from inside the cockpit, captures the aircraft rattling and bouncing as the crew approaches the opening. It looks considerably less like flying and more like riding turbulence inside a washing machine.

See the footage, linked here , and below.

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The flights helped meteorologists measure what became a historic hurricane.…