Drone Pilot Flies Through a Tornado, Captures its Awesome Power
An FPV drone pilot flew a GoPro directly into a tornado to capture decidedly spellbinding footage of an atmospheric twister churning up the Oklahoma landscape.
Luke Bredar explains that he reached out to storm chaser Ricky Forbes and Braydon Morisseau with his “dream of filming tornadoes from above.” In May this year, he headed to Arnett, Oklahoma, and quickly realized he had no idea what he was letting himself in for.
Forbes and Morisseau are both expert storm chasers with years of experience. Bredar was tagging along with them as they searched for tornadoes and was immediately capturing stunning material. About a month later, Bredar went out with Forbes again, this time in North Dakota.
“As it turns out, the vast majority of storm chasing is actually driving and repositioning and managing your nerves,” says Bredar. “Experiencing the strengthening wind and darkening sky, your body knows something is wrong, instincts tell you to turn around.”
Bredar donned his FPV goggles while still sitting inside the car so the crew could make a quick getaway if need be. On one flight, he lost contact with his camera as it was downed into a field. However, he was later able to retrieve it.
While chasing one huge supercell storm, Bredar is ordered to down his drone as Forbes realizes they are in a precarious spot and could get swallowed up by a tornado. The drone pilot quickly lands in a field so they can make their escape.
In the mini documentary published to GoPro’s YouTube channel, Bredar questions whether he really wants to be a part of the dangerous world of storm chasing where people can die from the extreme hobby.
“Later, it was officially rated the first EF5 since 2013, the highest category on the tornado scale,” Bredar says of the supercell in North Dakota. “With estimated wind speeds of over 238 miles per hour, it had enough power to derail 33 train cars weighing over 72,000 lbs each. Three people’s lives were lost that night.”
Bredar notes that it is odd to experience one of nature’s most spectacular shows through an artificial headset, but points out that it is the only way to capture the footage.
