Some charter operators will be busy flying clients to prime viewing locations on April 8 to take in the total solar eclipse, when the moon will pass between the Earth and the sun, blocking the sun’s light.
Several airlines are also planning for the event.
The path of the total eclipse will begin over the South Pacific Ocean. At 11:07 a.m. PDT, the first location in the continental North America to experience the eclipse, weather permitting, will take place on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, according to NASA. It will take in much of Mexico, stretch 12 states from Texas into Maine, clip several Canadian provinces then exit on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada at 5:16 NDT. Other parts of North America will experience a partial eclipse.
Air Charter Service (ACS), an aircraft charter broker, has arranged flights for clients on private jets and larger aircraft to various destinations that day to take it in. For example, 180 passengers will fly in an Airbus A320neo with the option of landing at one of three airports along its path, choosing the best one that day depending on weather, says Richard Thompson, ACS Americas president.
One couple will fly to Ohio to get married in the path of the eclipse, and a family will travel to Niagara Falls to view it with a stunning backdrop. Others plan to fly to Mazathlan on the coast of Mexico to watch it reach land for the first time.
Air Charter Service has also arranged a number of other charters for the day.
“We have extensive experience in organizing charters for stargazers, having arranged several for recent eclipses—in 2015 in the Indian Ocean, and in the U.S. in 2017,” Thompson says.
Some U.S. airlines are also ready.
United Airlines, for example, says 11 scheduled flights are expected to fly directly in the path of totality. United plans to provide solar eclipse viewing glasses to all passengers on board, it says.
Delta Air Lines has scheduled two special flights, one from Dallas to Detroit and another from Austin, Texas, to Detroit, on April 8 “specifically for umbraphiles to be able to spend as much time as possible directly within the path of totality,” the airline says. Five regularly scheduled flights will also have prime viewing spots, it says.
Southwest Airlines modeled the operational day against projections of the umbra and penumbra, or the shadows cast by the moon’s eclipse of the sun, it says, and identified three scheduled flights with the greatest likelihood of the best views. Five others may cross the eclipse’s totality during their operating time.
Eclipse viewers will sense a number of things, such as darkness, temperature fluctuation, change in animal activity, and the sun’s corona, or the ring of sunlight around the moon, notes Seth McGowan, president of the Adirondack Sky Center and Observatory in New York.
“It is one of the only times that we are conscious of the Earth’s and moon’s movement, and the speed in which our planet and our moon are moving through space; it can be awe-inspiring to realize,” McGowan says. “Perhaps, most importantly, I encourage everyone to be in the moment, be present, look up, but also look around, taking note of the activity all around you—it’s powerful.”
Experts say to watch the eclipse using special eclipse glasses only, which are much darker than regular sunglasses. The April 8 total solar eclipse will be the last visible from the contiguous U.S. until 2044.
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