Eclipse-A-Palooza

As pilots, we're undoubtedly alike in that we keep our eyes and ears open for cool things to do with a plane. Go see a total eclipse of the sun? We're there. So being that we pretty much think alike on such things, it should come as no surprise that there will be a lot of pilots flying to the path of the eclipse. Even NASA is getting in on the game, as it will chase the eclipse with a pair of its highly modified Canberra aero-science jets. For those ground-bound types, the Eclipse will last a couple of minutes. NASA plans to use jet speed to follow it for seven-plus minutes as they study the sun's corona.

For the rest of us pilots, the plan seems to be to fly somewhere and watch the hide-and-seek show from terra firma. That will impact the relatively small number of GA airports located along the path of totality that's a strip roughly 70 miles wide stretching from Oregon to South Carolina. There are estimates that as many as 7.4 million people might make the drive to see the eclipse, but so far we've seen no estimate of how many pilots will be flying to see it.

The problem is that there's no way to know in advance how many planes will heading to that swatch of darkness. I hope to be making the trip, but if I do, I don't need to tell anyone I'm doing so. In fact, there's really no way for me to tell anyone I am. Many pilots are contacting airports in the zone to make reservations to tie down for the event, but there's no master list of airports or no organization that's set up to keep track. The FAA knows the eclipse might create headaches at some airports and has worked with a few to set up temporary control towers---wonder how a private ATC would have responded to this event. But there are likely to be a lot of airports with nothing but a Unicom frequency for pilots to use to separate themselves from other shadow seekers.

Our advice is this:

Call ahead to make sure there will be room for you at the airport you're intending to visit.
Arrive early. We'd recommend getting there at least several hours early if not the day before. Better yet, travel to some spot near the path of totality but not in in, then make a short flight for the event, arriving on site hours ahead of time.
Bring everything you'll need, including water, food and camping gear.
Plan your fuel wisely. Don't arrive low on fuel. Arrive with enough fuel to fly safely for 200 miles or more without refueling at the eclipse-viewing airport.
Talk to ATC. They want you to. And if you're flying into a non-towered airport, use standard pattern procedures and announce your intentions.

With this eclipse being the best opportunity many of us will ever have to see such a show, there are going to be lot of pilots flying there. Let's make it an event to remember, for all the right reasons.

To get more aviation news delivered to your desktop or mobile device, sign up for our weeklyeNews.

Isabel GoyerWriter

A commercial pilot, editor-in-Chief Isabel Goyer has been flying for more than 40 years, with hundreds of different aircraft in her logbook and thousands of hours. An award-winning aviation writer, photographer and editor, Ms. Goyer led teams at Sport Pilot, Air Progress and Flying before coming to Plane & Pilot in 2015.