dmbolp

Still thinking seat F as the sun will be in the south sky in the afternoon

Tanic

Yes, in the United States the sun will be on the south side of airplanes.

However, on DEN-ATL, the ground shadow cast by the moon will be about 150 miles north of the normal flight track. Perhaps the flight plan will be filed to get under the shadow?

jco613

good call on the volume down...sounded like that guy was about to see a triple rainbow. What does it mean?

joshua362

I've seen "double" rainbows on the ground, perhaps 3 are possible. Its just another arch next to the first. Also saw a round rainbow which is only possible in the air, projected onto a cloud IIRC.

Surface Interval

I'm booked on the DEN-ATL flight for two pax. I plan on cancelling tomorrow morning. If anybody is interested, please let me know and I'll try to coordinate the time I cancel so that you may have a chance to snag one (or two).

kennycrudup

"HERE WE GO! OMG HERE WE GO! OMG GETTING CLOSE! ... TOTALITY! TOTALITY! LOOK AT THAT STREAMER!" ... sounds like a quite different kind of activity than mere rainbow sighting!

Surface Interval

For the moment, there are now two seats open.

Rare

I'll be on 1368 PDX-STL. Any thoughts on which side to sit for best viewing? It looks like the flights have more or less followed slightly to the south of the path of totality, so I was thinking left side, but I'm not sure. Will I have to choose between seeing the shadow and seeing the sun? Would it be better to switch to 1375 SEA-STL, where (I think) it seems clear that the right side is best for both sun and shadow?

youranut

I just ran across this article. It says you're wasting your money for an "eclipse flight" if it's anywhere over the continental U.S. The sun will be too high in the sky to see out of crappy commercial passenger jet windows

" In 2016, Rao was a passenger on Alaska Airlines Flight 870 during a total solar eclipse, which reached its maximum when the sun was about 10 degrees above the horizon. This year, when the show begins for people on the western coast of the U.S., the sun will be significantly higher in the sky — about 40 degrees above the horizon, Rao said.

At a typical flight altitude of around 35,000 feet (11 kilometers), airplane passengers seated on the plane's "sun side" might be able to glimpse the sun only if its height above the horizon is no more than 30 degrees, Rao told Live Science.

Unfortunately, this means that the angle of the sun's position during the Aug. 21 eclipse will make it impossible to see through a window of a commercial aircraft, "even if you are contorted to have your nose pressed up against the bottom of the window from a 'sun-side' window seat," Glenn Schneider, an astronomer with the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona, told Live Science in an email.

For the Alaska Airlines eclipse flightscheduled for Aug. 21, Rao has advised airline officials to fly the plane 1,000 miles (1,609 km) off the Oregon coast, in order to catch the eclipse over the Pacific Ocean when the sun will be around 25 degrees above the horizon, he told Live Science."

https://www.livescience.com/60138-wa...-airplane.html

dmbolp

/\ /\ Thank You!!! Have been trying to decide whether to take the Nashville-Charleston flight on MON; would have required driving from ATL to Nashville, then getting from Charleston to Richmond for a client on TUE. Looked out the window today in ATL at 2:45ish and the sun was pretty high in the sky. Think I'll just wait for the weather and maybe drive north a few hours

Thanks Again!!

N830MH

Be careful out there, Guys! Closed your windows shade down and don't look out the windows. Keep it closed. Be aware!

Poker2012chu

I saw numerous west coast / rocky mountain - STL flights listed for these eclipse flights, but are there no MCI bound flights that would qualify as well? MCI is right in the path of totality after all, and flights arriving on the Lakes Nine and Royal Eight STAR's into MCI would cross right into the path of totality as well.

Tanic

The moon's shadow is traveling across the earth at approximately 1600mph near MCI. An airplane would need to pass through the shadow during the two minute window at about 13:08 CDT. There must be some flights departing or arriving MCI around that time.

dmbolp

Flew ATL-MCO today and yeah, the entire window is below my chin; perfect for looking at the ground. Sat in the bulkhead window which has 2 windows, so a couple options, but pretty tough looking up to as high as the sun is going to be in the afternoon. Gonna cancel BNA-CHS and stay on the ground.

Toshbaf

One problem is if the person that is sitting in the window seat insists on closing the shades.

I once sat next to a militant person that had personality issues that did this. I merely requested, for reasons of safety, that she open the shade only 1/3 upon landing. She refused mumbling something about slavery, huh???