2017 Total Solar Eclipse

Would flying enhance or detract from the experience of a total eclipse?

  • Enhance

    Votes: 5 27.8%

  • Detract

    Votes: 13 72.2%
  • Total voters
    18
labbadabba

labbadabba

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Lawrence, KS
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labbadabba
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I'm in the path of the eclipse but I probably won't experience a totality. Thinking about flying up to Falls City, Neb to get 1:38 of totality. From everything I read it is a totally surreal experience.

The winds calm, birds stop chirping, crickets make noise, stars come out. It's like the world just stops and goes quiet. Sounds incredible. But then I got to thinking, hey, if I'm flying anyway, would it be even better to see it from the air?

What do you guys/gals think?
 
I think you've been over sold on what happens.

I've experienced one and, it gets a little bit darker, gets a little bit cooler, but the winds stay the same, the stars don't come out, the crickets don't start chirping. At least none of that happened when I was out watching.
 
EdFred said:
I think you've been over sold on what happens.

I've experienced one and, it gets a little bit darker, gets a little bit cooler, but the winds stay the same, the stars don't come out, the crickets don't start chirping. At least none of that happened when I was out watching.
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I've found I can duplicate the experience by closing the curtains and turning the lights out.

Rich
 
I was part of a student scientific experiment during a total solar eclipse when I was probably at 14. I was the timekeeper (being the one with a portable shortwave that could tune the time stanards). It gets darker and colder (we were taking light meter and temperature readings as well as a time lapse photo of the sun). Totality last a few minutes with some neat effects (the diamond ring and the shadow bands which we had special devices to measure).
The winds don't calm and we were at the beach so no crickets. Wasn't looking for birds and probably could see stars but who was looking there.
As long as there are no clouds between you and the sun the experience on the ground should be excellent. If I needed to climb above the clouds, that might be the only reason to fly.
 
Matthew said:
Fly into St Joe (KSTJ). They should get 2:38 of totality, the centerline of the eclipse runs right through town.

http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/communities/states/MO/St. Joseph_871.htm
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Yep, Falls City is on the same path and will hopefully have fewer people (would rather not deal with crowds). They're actually having a watch party at KSTJ because the center of the shadow actually passes directly over the approach end of the runway. I wonder if they'll have a fly-in...
 
labbadabba said:
Yep, Falls City is on the same path and will hopefully have fewer people (would rather not deal with crowds). They're actually having a watch party at KSTJ because the center of the shadow actually passes directly over the approach end of the runway. I wonder if they'll have a fly-in...
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I didn't even know about it until I read a story in the KC paper yesterday. They interviewed a STJ B&B owner who said about a year or so ago he started getting phone calls to reserve rooms. He sold out 2.5 years in advance.
 
If you can fly above the clouds, it will make a difference.

If you can't, you'll get as good or better view from the ground.

Honestly, acceptable airmanship means you don't get to see the eclipse if you're flying. It's hard to see and avoid if you and everyone else in the air are looking somewhere else.
 
Damn, your government kicks me out of the country 3 weeks before it happens :-(
 
Sheesh... I was always warned about looking at an eclipse with the naked eye. Perhaps that's over paranoid, not sure. But... Looking at it while flying?
 
Kritchlow said:
Sheesh... I was always warned about looking at an eclipse with the naked eye. Perhaps that's over paranoid, not sure. But... Looking at it while flying?
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No, it's not paranoid, and it sure would be hard to fly wearing a welding helmet.

You can look during totality, but not otherwise. Most of us Astro types have gadgets for this sort of thing.
 
I put it on my calendar. See if I can pencil in time for this eclipse thingy when it gets closer. Haha. ;)
 
It's been on my calendar for a while already, but the academic calendar isn't out yet for 2017-8 so I'm not sure how close that will be to the start of classes. If it's too close I may have to scrap the idea of flying into the path of totality.
 
flyingron said:
I was part of a student scientific experiment during a total solar eclipse when I was probably at 14. I was the timekeeper (being the one with a portable shortwave that could tune the time stanards). It gets darker and colder (we were taking light meter and temperature readings as well as a time lapse photo of the sun). Totality last a few minutes with some neat effects (the diamond ring and the shadow bands which we had special devices to measure).
The winds don't calm and we were at the beach so no crickets. Wasn't looking for birds and probably could see stars but who was looking there.
As long as there are no clouds between you and the sun the experience on the ground should be excellent. If I needed to climb above the clouds, that might be the only reason to fly.
Click to expand...

Just missed one in college, we were at 97%. Couldn't afford to drive an hour away for totality. It was a weird feeling walking around, everything was just "wrong." Leaf shadows from the trees were all crescent shaped, it was spooky quiet in campus. I'm supposed to be near totality this time, too, so I may venture off to see it if the weather is decent.
 
The closest I ever came to totality was an annular eclipse, 5/10/94 in Detroit. It was a major event at the department where I worked at the time, we had a crowd of visitors up on the roof of the physics building. The weather was perfect for it too. Enough of the sun was covered that it got noticeably darker, a bit twilight-like, though (I'm told) actual totality is much more so.

I've seen several partial eclipses with the crescent-shaped leaf shadows. No total eclipses, though, and I've never tried to travel into the path of totality. I figure that with my luck, if I traveled to see a total eclipse cloud cover would be guaranteed. But I'm going to do it next year if I at all possibly can.
 
Hank S said:
Just missed one in college, we were at 97%. Couldn't afford to drive an hour away for totality. It was a weird feeling walking around, everything was just "wrong." Leaf shadows from the trees were all crescent shaped, it was spooky quiet in campus. I'm supposed to be near totality this time, too, so I may venture off to see it if the weather is decent.
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If you miss this one there's going to be another one over the central US in 2024, April I think. Unless I've retired by then I won't be able to get away for that one, so next year is my best hope. Hope you get to see it.
 
Matthew said:
Even if it's cloudy, the darkness will be fun.
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Well, if you have a plane, just fly above the clouds, can also fly along the path to enjoy it for longer time. Anybody know the ground speed of eclipse? I'm guessing about 800knots.
 
teejayevans said:
Well, if you have a plane, just fly above the clouds, can also fly along the path to enjoy it for longer time. Anybody know the ground speed of eclipse? I'm guessing about 800knots.
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I seem to recall seeing the speed vary across the U.S. between 2300-3800 mph. But I could be wrong.
 
He flew in to Nova Scotia
To see the Total Eclipse of the Sun

I bet you think this song is about you...
 
Depends on where you are in the totality path. In Oregon, it will be about 2400 MPH. By the time it hits the opposite coast in South Carolina, it will be down to about 1450MPH. This means that those of us on the east coast will get a few seconds more totality than the rest of y'all.
 
I'll continue using the reliable "thumb to sun" method my old flight instructor showed me.
 
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One of the most amazing natural phenomena, ever. I've seen five, traveled quite a bit for four. (Finland 1990, Turkey 2006, Russia 2008, China 2009, Australia 2012).
 
mtuomi said:
One of the most amazing natural phenomena, ever. I've seen five, traveled quite a bit for four. (Finland 1990, Turkey 2006, Russia 2008, China 2009, Australia 2012).
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I know someone else who does that. Sounds interesting, not just because of seeing the eclipse, but having the opportunity to travel to random places for that reason appeals to me.
 
azure said:
The closest I ever came to totality was an annular eclipse, 5/10/94 in Detroit.
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Obviously, you have a better memory than I do - the best I could recall was "several years ago"...

One of the guys I worked with brought in a telescope and projected the image on white foam core (or something like that) - that worked real well. Dunno how you would do that in an airplane.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Obviously, you have a better memory than I do - the best I could recall was "several years ago"...
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Well, I knew it was May, early to mid '90s, pretty easy to find the exact date anyway as the eclipse was the only one with a path whose center passed through Detroit during that timeframe.
One of the guys I worked with brought in a telescope and projected the image on white foam core (or something like that) - that worked real well. Dunno how you would do that in an airplane.
Click to expand...
That's one way to observe an eclipse. I remember buying a sun filter at a camera shop on Michigan Ave., it was perfect for the purpose. We also had a telescope equipped with a sun filter, though I was not one of the demonstrators at that point. I'm pretty sure I still have my filter from the camera shop, ready to use next year.
 
The centerline passes right over my hometown, Ste. Genevieve, MO. I just put the call out for a family reunion/party.

10 kids...

Catholic family...

Like we need an excuse to party! :)
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Obviously, you have a better memory than I do - the best I could recall was "several years ago"...

One of the guys I worked with brought in a telescope and projected the image on white foam core (or something like that) - that worked real well. Dunno how you would do that in an airplane.
Click to expand...
azure said:
Well, I knew it was May, early to mid '90s, pretty easy to find the exact date anyway as the eclipse was the only one with a path whose center passed through Detroit during that timeframe.

That's one way to observe an eclipse. I remember buying a sun filter at a camera shop on Michigan Ave., it was perfect for the purpose. We also had a telescope equipped with a sun filter, though I was not one of the demonstrators at that point. I'm pretty sure I still have my filter from the camera shop, ready to use next year.
Click to expand...

I had a couple sun filters for my scope that I brought into work and passed around the office staff. Guys from the shop brought out welding helmets - and yes we made sure they were rated well enough to use for the observance.
 
Not to resurrect a dead post but it seems more appropriate than starting a new one...

My girlfriend and I are planning to fly from Michigan to see it. We'll probably stay an hour or two away (by air) then fly in for the day. We'll decide where to go based on the best weather.
The eclipse passes directly (or nearly directly) over these fields:

OR77 KJAC KAIA KSTJ KCOU K02 KHVC 2SC7

Just plug these into your favorite flight planning software, and you'll see the sun's path.
 
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What mach # would you need to stay in the moon's shadow for a good part of the eclipse at say, FL300? Or would it be possible?
 
The higher you are, the longer your time viewing it.
 
I wonder if I drove an Eclipse to the airport to fly in an Eclipse to see the eclipse if it would eclipse all other eclipses.
 
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