Pilots fly through the eye of Hurricane Patricia as 235mph winds rock specially modified plane named Miss Piggy

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The crew of a specially-made plane named Miss Piggy braved winds of 235mph as they ventured into the eye of Hurricane Patricia, the Western Hemisphere's strongest recorded storm.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Joseph Klippel shared video of the experience aboard the Lockheed WP-3D Orion 'hurricane hunter' that is used to record data from inside the most dangerous storms.

The plane made two passes through the storm, passing through heavy winds and rain en route to the calm of the storm's eye, where the pilots could see all the way to the water below. 

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Video from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration team showed pilots pass through 235mph winds into the heart of Hurricane Patricia. Above, the pilots as they head back into the storm

Visibility was limited as the plane called Miss Piggy headed towards the eye of the storm, where the skies were much calmer (right)

Lieutenant Commander Patrick Didier said that the flight was one of the top five most turbulent for many crew members

A pressure reading of 879 millibars, the lowest ever recorded in a hurricane, was the result of a ten and a half hour flight as Miss Piggy went from Harlingen, Texas, towards the storm off the coast of Mexico and then back to Florida.

'Some of the most experienced among our group said Patricia definitely approached their top five of most turbulent flights they'd ever done,' Lieutenant Commander Patrick Didier, one of three pilots, told ABC.

'Basically, we're pretty used to going into these storms, but you know it's bad when all of this just catches us by surprise'.

However, the plane still experienced heavy jolts and at one point the flight director's keyboard flew off his station.

The Miss Piggy, a Lockheed WP-3D Orion 'hurricane hunter', is specially designed to be able to withstand hurricane conditions

The crew flew out of a base in Texas for their runs into the hurricane center. On its last flight, the crew spent ten and a half hours in the air as it headed back to Florida

A picture of the plane's turbulence monitor showed difficult conditions, which provided limited visibility for the brave pilots

Video of one flight into the center shows almost no visibility for two minutes as the plane nears the eye. 

The clouds then part as Miss Piggy, which is specially modified to sustain high winds and other hurricane damage, spends two minutes in the eye before reentering another eye wall.

'This is such a cool job! Thank you Jesus!!,' Klippel posted on Facebook, followed be a sunglasses emoticon.

Didier said that he hugged his wife and baby daughter when he got home.

The crew had done two previous flights of Patricia on Wednesday and Thursday, when it had not yet reached the sheer force it would accumulate as it worked its way eastward.

The storm became a Category 5 hurricane, but has since weakened after making landfall on Friday.

It was only a tropical depression as of Saturday morning, though remnants of the storm were expected to contribute to mudslides and flooding in both Mexico and Texas. 

Joseph Klippel (left) thanked Jesus and said that he had 'such a cool job' after the flight. Above, he poses with pilot Chris Lalonde