Is anyone going to the Faroe Islands for the solar eclipse on March 20th?
I might be interested in flying out.
I am interested too.
Svalbard seems a little far, and does not allow private aviation anyway, so let’s look at Faroe islands. Hmm, booking.com says just a few rooms available. At € 2.000.-/night. Wow, I never knew these islands are a tropical paradise with 7 star hotels!
So maybe sleep in the plane? Bit chilly, and cramped.
So maybe use the 2 k€ to fly on to Iceland, file a flight plan to Faroe for early morning 20 March, land, watch the eclipse and carry on?
Hmm, what about weather. It is not uncommon to have some clouds over there, and that would spoil the thing at least a bit.. So the back-up plan must be to indeed have the option to be airborne at the time of the eclipse and watch it on top.
Now, I have a question. There is an amazing amount of collective knowledge on this forum (learning every day):
DO YOU NEED A NQ TO FLY THROUGH AN ECLIPSE? 
According to the ICAO definition of ‘night’ (SS-SR) you don’t… Holy cow, have I just discovered a serious flaw in the international aviation legislation? Don’t you all think I deserve a medal for just having avoided some serious potential loss of life?
According to the ICAO definition of ‘night’ (SS-SR) you don’t… Holy cow, have I just discovered a serious flaw in the international aviation legislation? Don’t you all think I deserve a medal for just having avoided some serious potential loss of life?
The old Swedish (and, I believe, Finnish) definition was much better suited to eclipses — not to mention operations above 60°N. Basically it was dark if you couldn’t see a prominent unlighted object at a distance of 8 km due to lack of light. From my airfield you can see two quite prominent cathedral spires at about 9 km distance. Very convenient. Now with SERA I have too look up a table…
Needing a night rating during a total eclipse would be very silly. It is staying bright enough to see the horizon. You get a really strange light, with your immediate surroundings being quite dark because of lack of direct sunlight, but the sky being brighter than expected because of the scattered light of the daytime sun, especially towards the horizon. Cloud at a distance remains illuminated as well and very visible if high enough to be outside the penumbra.
Hard to describe. Magical.
Given the choice, I would watch the eclipse from the ground. The reaction of the birdlife around you is astonishing, and the overall atmosphere quite unique. My Grandmother’s house happened to be under the path of the total Eclipse we had in Europe a decade or so back, so no problem with Hotels, and I was lucky with the weather, too… I thought about looking at it from the air, but the German regulators had their knickers in their characteristic double-twist about night flying rules etc so I was on the ground – I was glad I was there and not in a noisy cockpit.
Second time around, maybe, just for comparison. I spoke to a pilot who saw it from very high up over the Atlantic, he described it as a shadow going “woosh” over the ocean, but still bright all the time.
If anyone has a spare seat could they let me know? I don’t fancy the 200 miles over water in a PA28!
In 2006 we flew to the southeast corner of Greece to experience it from ground.
http://hellasga.com/gallery/kyp/lgkj
Magical indeed.
Random video I found from that day on YouTube.
I saw the ‘99 eclipse from 7000’ over the English Channel above a solid layer of stratus, then in to Jersey for lunch and home again.
Indeed it was legal daytime, although the French had imposed an ‘IFR only’ restriction on flights in the area in their airspace, so check Notams.
Because of the traffic, there was no useful radar service available. There didn’t appear to be much traffic near me; that is until it went dark and suddenly nav lights and strobes could be seen all around!
Of course, having a bubble canopy gives you the best viewing options.
Someone tried contacting me on a possible trip to see the Eclipse, but can’t find the e-mail. I am not going to the Faoer Island. I might fly above the clouds on Friday to see the Eclipse with solar-glasses.
Needing a night rating during a total eclipse would be very silly. It is staying bright enough to see the horizon.
I do not know what the situation is now with SERA, but I believe that Norway required a night rating between certain times of day even during midnight fun.
