Frith’s Kermit Artwork Flies Into The Storm

One of NOAA’s aircraft that flies directly into hurricanes bears a creative Bermuda connection, with its Kermit the Frog artwork drawn by Bermudian Michael K. Frith.

The New York Times reported, “Imagine flying a 100,000-pound aircraft almost straight into the center of a Category 5 hurricane.

“You get tossed around so violently that you physically cannot speak. The roar of 150-mile-per-hour winds drowns out the noise of the engines. And one of your most trusted turbulence trackers is a small stuffed Muppet dangling wildly inside the cockpit.

“During the hurricane season, which begins in June and runs through the end of November, NOAA sends flying weather labs aloft.

“The agency has two Lockheed WP-3D Orion turboprop airplanes — nicknamed Kermit and Miss Piggy — for those missions, each staffed by three pilots, two flight engineers, an in-flight meteorologist, several navigators, a network administrator, avionics technicians and scientists.

“The planes, based in Lakeland, Fla., logged their first flights 50 years ago. They fly into some of the world’s worst weather to collect data that helps researchers better understand storms, improve forecast models, and protect lives and property.

“The official call signs of the two planes are ‘NOAA42, Kermit’ and ‘NOAA43, Miss Piggy.’

“For their first 15 years of flight, the two turboprop planes were designated by their tail numbers.

“But the flight crews on one of the planes developed a reputation for being untidy, earning their aircraft a nickname.

“The creator of the Muppets, Jim Henson, or a member of his staff, were made aware of the nickname and the doodles, Captain Kahn said, and decided that the doodles were not good enough for planes serving such vital missions. Mr. Henson died in 1990, and was uninvolved in the decision making, according to the Jim Henson Legacy.

“Michael K. Frith, the creative director of the Jim Henson Company in the early 1990s, is a native of Bermuda, and growing up on an island in the Atlantic Ocean gave him a deeply personal connection to the catastrophic power of hurricanes.

“Mr. Frith, who could not be reached for comment, drew Kermit as a sky hopper, wearing a vintage leather aviation hat and goggles.”

You can read the full story here on The New York Times.

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