A hurricane scientist logged a final flight as NOAA released his ashes into Milton’s eye
An award-winning scientist, Peter Dodge had made hundreds of flights in the face of hurricanes – nearly 400. On Tuesday, a crew on a reconnaissance flight into Hurricane Milton helped him make another, dropping his ashes into the storm as a permanent one. tribute to the longtime radar specialist and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher.
“It’s very moving,” Dodge’s sister, Shelley Dodge, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. “We knew it was a goal of NOAA to make this happen.”
The ash was dumped into the eye of the hurricane on Tuesday night, less than 24 hours before Milton came ashore in Siesta Key near Sarasota, Florida. An in-flight observation log, which charts information such as position and wind speed, ended with a reference to 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 you don’t want that for people. But on the other hand, I really wanted this to happen.”
Dodge died in March 2023 at the age of 72 from complications resulting from a fall and a stroke, his sister said.
The Miami resident served in federal service for 44 years. Among his honors were several awards for technology used for studying Hurricane Katrina’ The devastating winds of 2005.
He was also part of the crew on board a reconnaissance flight to Hurricane Hugo in 1989 which experienced severe turbulence and saw one of its four engines catch fire.
“They almost didn’t get out of sight,” Shelley Dodge said.
Objects inside the aircraft were torn loose and thrown throughout the cabin. After dumping excess fuel and some heavy instruments to allow the flight to continue climbing, an inspection found no major damage to the aircraft and it flew on. According to NOAA, the plane ultimately exited the storm with no injuries to the crew members.
A degenerative eye condition eventually prevented Dodge from making further reconnaissance flights.
Shelley Dodge said NOAA kept her informed about when her brother’s last mission would take place and that she passed along the information to family members.
“There were several moments where they thought all the pieces would fall into place, but it had to be the right combination, the research flight. It all had to come together,” she said. “It finally happened on the 8th. I didn’t know for sure until they sent me the official printout showing exactly where it happened in the eye.”
Dodge had advanced expertise in radar technology and took a keen interest in it tropical cyclonesaccording to a March 2023 newsletter from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory announcing his death.
He worked with the National Hurricane Center and the Aircraft Operations Center on airborne and land-based radar research. During hurricane aircraft missions, he served as an onboard radar scientist and performed radar analysis. He later became an expert in radar data processing, the newsletter said.
Dodge’s ashes came in a package. One of the symbols draped on it was the flag of Nepal, where he spent time as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching math and science to high school students before becoming a meteorologist.
An avid gardener, Dodge also had a love of bamboo and participated in the Japanese martial art Aikido, attending a session the weekend before he died.
“He just had an intellectual curiosity that remained undaunted even after he lost his sight,” Shelley Dodge said.