bhunt

If any of you scientific Geeks out there would know the answer this question. Would be cool to see it from the sky

WineCountryUA

USA Today article on viewing the 21 Aug 2017 eclipse from a plane

AS has special a flight planned and WN has some standard scheduled flights that might work. Have heard nothing from other carriers.

Being 7 miles up will change the eclipse path a bit.

sbm12

Based mostly on what WN published I made some guesses about other eclipse-friendly flight times/routes.

These were the most obvious ones to me that seem likely to be useful. I'd bet other DEN departures around the 10a bank would also work.

• United UA 1127 DEN-MCI (10:01a-12:45p)
• United UA 573 DEN-MSP (9:46a-12:43p)
• United UA 336 DEN-ORD (10:20a-1:46p)
• United UA 410 DEN-ATL (9:54a-2:56p)
• United UA 2385 DEN-ORD (9:25a-12:53p)
• United UA 4684 DEN-STL (9:48a-1:00p)
• United UA 3727 DEN-BNA (9:50a-1:26p)

prestonh

probably any of the mid morning transcons out of SEA to EWR, IAD, maybe ORD if not delayed. The 9:21 ORD-SEA and 11:15 DEN-SEA looks like good timing westbound. Some of the WB out of ORD/DEN to other destinations at that bank will work too unless they route too far south of Denver ahead of ~11:30 MDT or so.

RandomBaritone

Nice! Though I can't imagine what it'd be like to be on the wrong side of the plane during an eclipse. Fistfights might break out.

I'm satisfied with my decision to head to EUG. Still can't believe how much cheaper it was than PDX!

IAH-OIL-TRASH

This idiot is driving from Las Vegas to somewhere near Idaho Falls to catch 2 minutes and 16 seconds of the totality before United flights home the next day. Not all is lost though - will stop at the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot on the way back.

Two things off my bucket list (neither were actually on it, but what the heck...).

I think it'll be dark outside both sides of the plane when you cross through line of maximum length totality. All planes will approach line at angle, so the experience will be same on each side, just mirrored. And that assumes you hit the line at the right place at the right time. I think most people will see dusk if they are really lucky. A plane with routing planned too hit a precise location at a precise time is the way to go, but at flying speed, you'd pass thru it even faster than on the ground. raehl311 is correct - you want to be on the ground.

raehl311

The short answer is, no.

First problem: Even if you can predict exact flight path, your flight has to be really on time.

Second problem: Have to actually be able to see the sun from the plane. Flying with it high in the sky, or towards or away from it? No luck.

Going to want to be on the ground for this one.

RandomBaritone

Well obviously. But for most people I'd guess half the fun of witnessing a total eclipse is seeing the corona, maybe snapping a photo or two. I'd bet there'll be some long queues for a glimpse out a window during totality.

Seeing it from the ground will be a far superior experience.

2stepbay

Totally, or is it "totality" agree.

I encourage you to be ground based. There, you'll witness a rapidly changing environment as the moon shadow draws near, including moon shadow crescents, a landscape that looks etched, Venus about 30 degrees west of the Sun (about 3 fists held at arms length) and Jupiter to the east. Also, the change in temperature, sound of birds, and crazy humans will make for a one-of-a-kind event. Good reference for cloud possibilities along the eclipse track here.

By contrast, airplane windows are notorious for scratches, which creates glare in varying amounts. You'll be limited visually by the small window, and, depending on time of day, may not even see the Sun at totality. Lastly, you'll need to depend on the flight being on-time. If the eclipse track were more oriented north<>south, then you'd have better visuals. However, west>>east puts flights at a disadvantage for 1 of 2 reasons: if traveling to the east, sun will be in front or above the plane; if traveling west sun will be behind or above plane. If going north<>south, the plane will be crossing the shadow line quite quickly. This eclipse has a rather narrow shadow path of about 100 miles or so . So viewing totality from above is going to be somewhat of a crap shoot due the rapidly moving moon shadow.

iapetus

While I'm sure it would be pretty interesting to see a total solar eclipse from an airplane (though nowhere near as cool as it's going to be from the ground), consider yourself very lucky if the timing works out just right for your plane to be flying through the Moon's shadow.

Then go out and buy a lottery ticket.


Now it won't take much luck to be in a plane over territory that is still experiencing a partial solar eclipse. But, as others have pointed out, you wouldn't be able to observe it easily from a tiny airplane window that isn't oriented in the right direction.

iapetus

How cool is it that xkcd just put out a comic strip germane to this FT thread?!

l etoile

FYI for those who'll be on the ground:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...-planning.html

hoopics

I'd purchased and then cancelled tickets on a WN flight from BNA to CHS. Both cities are in the path of totality, and the recent flight paths of the flight stay within the path of totality. It leaves BNA something like 27 minutes before totality begins, and on a typical day will be at 16,000 feet and climbing when it enters the cone. It should extend the length of time in the cone from 2:40 to 5:00 or so. It has a near perfect on-time rating, and worst case if it's delayed you're still in the cone while on the ground at BNA.

So why'd I cancel? Because it's WN. There are only going to be 29 window seats, and the plane lands in BNA as a through flight from DFW. I wasn't flying to DFW AND buying a business select ticket just to have a fighting chance at a window on the right side of the plane. Also, USA Today published an article highlighting the flight as being in the path about two hours after I bought it -- blind coincidence. How disappointing is it going to be for the people who fly into BNA from somewhere else, just to board that plane, and they get stuck in the B or C boarding group and have a middle seat on the wrong side of the aircraft?

The odds of disappointment were just too great to take a 1 in 6 shot at a window on the correct side. Now if it'd been a flight with reserved seats and I'd have been able to lock in a window? All over that.

So I'll be watching from the ground instead.

l etoile

Could you see being on that flight and the windw seat person pulls the shade... ;-)

DELee

"Trying to sleep here!"

David