♪ the airplane in the night sky like shooting stars ♪ ♪ i could really use a wish right now wish right now wish right now ♪ and welcome back, everyone. as we said at the top of the show, hurricane irene is barreling towards a u.s. landfall. >> and as with hurricanes in the past, one way scientists are keeping watch of all this is by literally flying through the storm. >> scary stuff. jeff butera of wfts in tampa wentnt along on one flight. and came back a little bit worse for the wear. >> reporter: we took off at 4:00 in the morning, aboard a lockheed p-3 aircraft, leaving behind miguel air force base and the lights of tampa, for the 2 1/2 hour flight for an area near the bahamas, where hurricane irene is swirlinin >> they're going to be the ones collecting the actual drop data. >> reporter: eric olhorn, showed me where scientists could