GOVERNMENT officials, meteorologists, emergency response officials and school students were among a large group of Barbadians who were allowed to peek inside the Hurricane Hunter at Grantley Adams International Airport yesterday.

According to Director of Meteorological Services Chester Layne, the last time one of those data-gathering aircraft was in Barbados was in March, 2000.

Accompanying it were officials from the National Hurricane Centre in Miami and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

National Hurricane Centre director Bill Read, who last visited Barbados 35 years ago, said the team's mission was "to bring what we have learnt about hurricanes and hurricane preparedness to the countries we visit".

He also described the Barbados visit as an opportunity to meet Government officials "face to face" and talk with "Chester and others on any concerns they have about hurricanes".

Read said bringing the aircraft always served as "a great attraction" for school children and others, especially if they have never seen one close up before.

Despite the dangers posed by a severe storm the team, including Captain Dave Borski, said there was never any real difficulty to get a crew for the Hurricane Hunters.

A ten-year veteran, the pilot said that those planes were always ready to fly in pursuit of tropical storms or investigate winter storms.(DA)