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Eclipse chasers
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On 8 April, North America witnessed its first total eclipse since 2017 and, as is now tradition, airlines scheduled flights to allow passengers to take in an unobstructed view of the phenomenon. But making these flights work is a fiendish combination of astronomical calculation and aviation logistics, given that the 100-mile-wide shadow cast over Earth sprints across the ground at around 1,000 miles an hour. If that isn’t difficult enough, airlines must grapple with the usual challenges of delays, cancellations and unexpected weather events.
The challenge was especially difficult for Alaska Airlines chief dispatchers Ed Fischer and Eric Juchartz. Rather than schedule a bespoke eclipse service, they instead adapted the flight paths of two routes out of San Diego, including flight 322 to Dulles, Virginia. “We had a small window of time to make this all work, especially for full totality that everyone wanted to see – you want to watch the full eclipse, not the partial,” says Juchartz.
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After an hour of using different tech to map out a route, including Google Earth, Juchartz plotted a path that involved flying far farther south than is typical.
“We were probably going to intercept it somewhere around Indianapolis, is what I guessed, and it was going to be dependent on how strong the winds were and when we actually took off,” adds Fischer, who used to navigate aircraft for the US Air Force.
“I emailed the crew a list of the eclipse times along their route so they could see what time they were going to be at different points and then passed it on to our passengers.”
Flight 322 Captain Nick Mentzen takes up the story. “It was right over Missouri, just shy of the border of Illinois, that we got the full eclipse. It was awesome,” he says. “ATC gave us permission to fly at a lower altitude and do a series of ‘S-turns’ to give our guests on both sides of the plane a view. First to the right, then followed by a turn to the left, and that’s when we got the full eclipse.”
The result was this incredible photo taken aboard the 737 MAX 9, registration N969AK. And it’s a good job the team nailed it – they won’t have another chance until the next North American eclipse in 2044.
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