Flying during a Solar Eclipse

It doesn't get that dark.

On Thu, 06 Jul 2017 14:31:45 -0700, karengeisinger95 wrote:

It doesn't get that dark.

I saw the 1999 eclipse from close to the Danube near Domsod, i.e. the
northern edge of where the current WGC is being flown.

From memory, most of the partial period was fairly light, with it only
getting darkish for a short time either side of totality. Its difficult
to say how dark totality was because I was more interested in looking at
the Baily's Beads and the light show put on by the sun's corona sticking
out past the moon.

My guess would be that reading your instruments may be quite hard but
that keeping a correct attitude should be easier: looking round during
totality I saw that the horizon was lit up with a weird orange glow on
all sides. That should make a good reference if you're in the air, but
why would you be flying if you've never experienced an eclipse? Second
one maybe, but IMO you should experience at least from one ground level
in the open.

If you've never seen a good eclipse, get yourself onto the centre of the
line of totality with a set of cheap eclipse glasses and a filter for
your camera(mine both had cardboard frames and 'lenses' of thin, silvered
mylar) and enjoy totality on the ground. Look for:

- Baily's Beads
- the sun's corona
- the 360 degree orange horizon
- the birds getting confused and roosting

and outside totality:

- crescent-shaped sunlight projections on the ground under trees etc
- 'waves' of interference effects crossing featureless concrete or
tarmac areas

If it gets cloudy, don't despair: the clouds can clear as the eclipse
approaches. I was stayting oin Szeged for it. We woke up to find solid
overcase, saw that it looked brighter toward Bala and the Danube, hopped
in the car and went. We ended up just east of the Danube and smack on the
centre line of totality under a cloudless sky. Perfection.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Thursday, July 6, 2017 at 2:31:49 PM UTC-7, wrote:
It doesn't get that dark.

For those that say "it doesn't get that dark have never been in the path of a total eclipse. I have been directly in the path, what a neat experience, all the birds were very confused and vocal. Turned dark as a dark night for a few minutes then back to normal. Personally I would rather be on the ground and enjoy the reactions of animals and people near me.

On a related note, a surprising number of countries permit "night vfr": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_VFR

I made one cross-country night flight in a 172 when renewing my US pilot's certificate some years ago. It was on a moonless night across uninhabited Arizona desert and "vfr" was a complete fiction - nothing was visible. I was able to fly reasonably well on instruments (thanks Microsoft!), but my landing on an unlit runway was pretty interesting. It convinced me never to fly at night without an instrument rating.

Mike