Flying to see the Eclipse

[cliffy]

Congrats on the IR. Use it carefully at first. Test the waters easily and get used to being on your own in IMC Wx. Always remember- Ice is not your friend, no matter what you fly, Boeing or a Cub. 

[amillet]

I thought about flying to the eclipse path (1.5 hrs. flight and watching it while in flight but my secretary had already made some appointments that I was too lazy to change. We'll have a 90% eclipse here & I bought the viewing glasses from Amazon that have not been recalled.

[larryb]

Someone mention smoke in Oregon?



This is southern Oregon. Better here in corvalis.

[mike_elliott]

On ‎8‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 9:00 PM, Chupacabra said:

Go get yourself some Cheap Sunglasses....

or be blinded by the light, revved up like a duce running in the night

[McMooney]

man, weather channel show's clounds for st joseph Monday, thinking about diverting to somewhere near nashville

[peevee]

Lots of parking left in McCall ID kmyl today. Actually wasn't that busy, I was surprised. The zlc controller on the way in was hoppin though.

[Wildhorsesracing]

It was gorgeous here today at Triple Tree - great viewing and definitely worth the trip!

[BigAl]

21 minutes ago, Wildhorsesracing said:

It was gorgeous here today at Triple Tree - great viewing and definitely worth the trip!

Holy Shiny!

[Jeff_S]

We had nothing but sunshine in Clemson, SC. Well, that is, until THIS happened!

 

 

[peevee]

That's a great pic if you took it. I didn't have the equipment to take any good photos.

[Marauder]

We had nothing but sunshine in Clemson, SC. Well, that is, until THIS happened!
 
 

Nice. This is all I saw from southern PA.




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[201er]

I had a nicer view from my Mooney!

 

[cliffy]

7 1/2 hrs in one sitting position in one flight? Yikes. I couldn't walk for a week if I did that now :-) 

We did U56 in Idaho to clear skies and darker moments  Not a vehicle on the highway moved for 5 mins during totality. Had 30+ airplanes show up at U56 for the show. Casper had over 140, Rexburg ID had 50 on the ground yesterday!.  Driggs was by reservation only for landing. 

Dodged big T storms through southern Utah on the way home.

Mooneys (even old ones) are meant for traveling. KPGA-KLGU-U56-KRIF-KPGA all in 2 days. 843 NM  10 AM day 1 to 5 PM day 2  

And 1 solar eclipse!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[peevee]

13 minutes ago, cliffy said:

7 1/2 hrs in one sitting position in one flight? Yikes. I couldn't walk for a week if I did that now :-) 

We did U56 in Idaho to clear skies and darker moments  Not a vehicle on the highway moved for 5 mins during totality. Had 30+ airplanes show up at U56 for the show. Casper had over 140, Rexburg ID had 50 on the ground yesterday!.  Driggs was by reservation only for landing. 

Dodged big T storms through southern Utah on the way home.

Mooneys (even old ones) are meant for traveling. KPGA-KLGU-U56-KRIF-KPGA all in 2 days. 843 NM  10 AM day 1 to 5 PM day 2  

And 1 solar eclipse!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was absolutely beautiful over in McCall today. Not a cloud in the sky. Lotta traffic on the road though.

[LANCECASPER]

2 hours ago, Wildhorsesracing said:

It was gorgeous here today at Triple Tree - great viewing and definitely worth the trip!

Wow the eclipse burned all of the paint off of your Mooney.

 

Seriously I remember when you had the thread on polishing it - it looks great.

[cliffy]

Here's our nearby flyin group at Rigby, ID in front of our Mooney and another of me taken at totality with a flash

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, cliffy said:

7 1/2 hrs in one sitting position in one flight? Yikes. I couldn't walk for a week if I did that now :-) 

We did U56 in Idaho to clear skies and darker moments  Not a vehicle on the highway moved for 5 mins during totality. Had 30+ airplanes show up at U56 for the show. Casper had over 140, Rexburg ID had 50 on the ground yesterday!.  Driggs was by reservation only for landing. 

Dodged big T storms through southern Utah on the way home.

Mooneys (even old ones) are meant for traveling. KPGA-KLGU-U56-KRIF-KPGA all in 2 days. 843 NM  10 AM day 1 to 5 PM day 2  

And 1 solar eclipse!

We flew a Cherokee 180 from KP19, Chandler, AZ, to KRAP, Rapid City, SD, on Saturday and spent Sunday in Rapid.   Then this morning went to Douglas, WY, (KDGW), which was an awesome time.   Nobody counted, but we walked all of the parking areas and estimated 130 airplanes there just for the eclipse.   Back from Douglas to Chandler afterwards today and dodged all of the same T-storms, which also made for some glorious viewing.   Overall an awesome trip.   Once I get through the tons of pics and stuff, I'll post some.

[Browncbr1]

Perfectly clear in east TN yesterday.  We made the long cc flight of 24nm down the valley to MNV. The field was full of planes and the folks there running the field were awesome.  They had a gospel bluegrass band string up in the hangar and had plenty of drinks and food to go around.  It was great!   

[pinerunner]

I'm drooling. I considered the 900 nm flight form Maine to the Nashville area. There and back in a day? I figured I'd just be too tired out in the end. I was up here at work in Boston and made a pinhole to show the 60% eclipse cast on a piece of paper.

[SethKeefer]

Browncbr1, you were one of the first out as soon as totality was over!

[SethKeefer]

We flew from GA to VA, picked up my father, then flew to MNV in east TN.  This may have been a recordbreaking day for air traffic, I bet the scopes looked like the English Channel during Dunkirk.  Timed it right and got radar services, but half the people I heard on the radio were denied.  Superb job by the good folks at MNV.  I keep replaying those 2.5 minutes in my head, and it just can't be photographed.  Here is a frame I took, but imagine looping silvery white streamers that go to the edge of the frame...and the color...we think of the sun as yellow, but it was the brightest, whitest silvery white, like a full moon but even a whiter silver than that. No words....the pics are neat but show about 5% of what I saw.

 

Edited August 22, 2017 by SethKeefer

[autopatch]

I can't imagine the work it takes to keep that polished. Good grief, good job.

[Wildhorsesracing]

3 hours ago, autopatch said:

I can't imagine the work it takes to keep that polished. Good grief, good job.

Believe it or not I have only polished it twice in two years, once when we first stripped it and again last week.  Took ~20 hrs to repolish but what a difference it makes.  I am seriously considering polishing for 2 hrs every 3 mos to keep it shiny.  Here is a good picture of the before (lower), during (middle) and after (upper) - even when it fades it's still shiny but not so much silver as a dull yellowish shiny...

I treat it as my "Karate Kid" workout - I come home with Popeye arms and my heart pumping from the exercise.

[Wildhorsesracing]

The pure darkness of the totality is truly hard to describe, we have already put the next eclipse on  our bucketlist! 

This was taken by a friend with  flash just to be able to see us.

 

There were over 500 planes at Triple Tree Aerodrome in SC.

 

[cliffy]

My wife put on a coat just before totality as it cooled about 15 degrees as it got darker.