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Sometime last year, I heard about the solar eclipse across the United States. If I drive about 2 hours to the north from Pittsburgh, total solar eclipse must be visible from Erie. I could drive, but flying is easier. When I was renting an airplane from a flight school, I could not reserve an airplane until it gets close. But, now I am flying from Beaver Valley Flying Club. The club allows me to reserve as far ahead as I want. I've just made a reservation almost as soon as I knew about the eclipse.
I wanted to take my wife with me, but my wife was not interested then. Instead, two friends wanted to go with me.
The plan was to leave Pittsburgh at 10am and drive to the airport. We should be at the airport by 11am. Then, we should be at Erie by noon. We had plenty of time before the eclipse.
As the date came close, I confirmed with one of the two passengers. He told me that he changed his mind and would drive with his fiance and another friend. I asked my wife if she was interested, but she said no. She is teaching Japanese at Chatham University. She didn't want to cancel her class. I cancelled my class by the way. So did my boss. Instead, I was going to take a daughter of a friend who was living in the same apartment complex.
Then another twist. The day before the eclipse, she called me and told that she had a ballet practice, and could not go. Seriously? Well, ballet must be important for her. But, to me the total solar eclipse was more important than my class. (Sorry, students.) I asked my wife again. My wife started hearing about the craze of the eclipse by then. She agreed to go if I picked her up at 10:50am after her class.
Then another twist! 10-day forecast had been predicting fine weather for many days, but the forecast suddenly turned to cloudy. Watching the total solar eclipse from Erie appeared to be impossible. I was thinking I was the only one person who was going to fly a Cessna to just watch a solar eclipse. Many other pilots apparently were thinking the same way. FAA sent out an email to pilots about a month ago and warned about extreme congestion on April 8 before and after the eclipse near the airports under the total solare-eclipse path. I already called Erie. But, now I called Cleveland Burke Lakefront airport, where better weather was forecasted, but I was told the airport was fully booked already. I compared the aviation sectional chart and the eclipse path, and found an airport called Findlay (KFDY). I called Findlay airport, and they told me they had a spot for me! But, it takes 1.5 hours from Beaver. If I picked up my wife at 10:50, we should be at the airport by 11:50. 20 minutes for pre-flight inspection and still we should be there by 1:40pm or so in time for the total solar eclipse.
Nothing was easy. The aviation forecast was predicting a high wind at Findley. Rain was predicted near Beaver at the time of take off. Rain was not an issue for me, but the forecasted wind at Findlay was 230 at 12 gust 20. Findlay closed runway 25-07 for parking. I would have to use runway 18. Wind direction 230 is about 240 magnetic direction. 60 degrees off from the right at max 20kt. First of all, my personal limit was 20kt any direction. Plus, 20 times sine of 60 degree is 17kt. My personal limit of cross-wind is 15kt. It exceeded my personal limit in two ways. However, last year when I was supposed to take a high-school kid for a ride, three forecast stations were predicting high wind, and I cancelled the flight. Then, it turned out to be the best flying condition. The same thing could happen. I waited until the morning.
Then it did happen! The forecast for Beaver turned to fair weather with no rain. The destination weather forecast changed to 220 at 12. No gust. Very much within my limit. Go for flight!
I picked up my friend at Carnegie Mellon University at 10:30 and my wife at Chatham University at a little after 10:50. I was hoping her to end her class earlier due to the eclipse, but she did all the way to 10:50. Then it was supposed to take 54 minutes on average to get to Beaver County Airport, but I was stuck in a big traffic jam. Apparently everyone was heading north toward Erie. My hope was the jam wouldn't start until hitting the Ohio border, but I was too optimistic. My friend looked up Google maps and suggested to go local road. I did so, and arrived at Beaver County Airport at around 12:20. 30-minute late.
That was my fastest pre-flight inspection. I didn't skip anything, but did it as fast as I could. Then I started the engine at around 12:40. The voice of the control tower was one of my best friends in the Beaver Valley Flying club. I was worried about the clearance delay, but he gave me IFR clearance almost right away. I told him "I'll send you great pictures of the Solar Eclipse!" on the radio and took off at 12:50. Estimated Time of Arrival was 14:20. I wanted to recover even 1 minute. But, the ATC of Pittsburgh Approach told me to climb up to 3,000ft, and then on course to Findlay. I had two passengers plus camera equipment. My Cessna 172 climbed slowly at about 500ft/min. Finally I reached 3,000ft, and then turned toward Findlay.
Unfortunately I constantly had 17 to 19kt headwind. The ground speed was around 100kt to 110kt. Slow progress. I was handed off to Cleveland approach, and then Findlay was getting closer.
By the way, another friend also wanted to watch the Solar Eclipse. I suggested her to go to near Akron. This picture was taken over Akron. Very thin layer of cloud was covering almost entire Ohio, but the sun was bright enough to penetrate through the cloud layer. Later I heard that she was able to see the total solar eclipse from her vantage point near Akron.
Findlay was a non-towered airport. Pilots tell each other where they are to take off and to land. About three to four airplanes were approaching Findlay when I got closer. Now there is a device called ADS-B, which shows near-by airplane locations on a tablet. But, sometimes it fails to pick up a signal. Still it is important to visually check other airplanes. A Piper Cherokee was on final runway 18 ahead of me. And, another airplane was saying "5 miles final, straight in, following Cherokee." If so, two airplanes ahead of me. I looked as hard as I could, but I could not see the airplane following the Cherokee, and my iPad showed nothing after it. I called on the radio "Is anyone on final now?" No answer. Someone said "No." Presumably, the pilot on the radio was telling a wrong location. He was not on 5-mile final trailing the Cherokee, nor straight in. ******g inexperienced pilot... (* Of course, I was once a ****ing inexperienced pilot, too.) I turned from the extended downwind to base to final, and landed with no problem. The reported wind at Findlay was 260 at 10. Almost 90 degree cross wind from the right. I had a bit strong cross-wind from the right. I felt it was more than 10kt, but nothing difficult for me.
As I landed, a person asked me if I needed fuel. I answered "Negative, sir!" But, maybe I pronouced wrong. The person guided me to the fuel pump. I just wanted to go to my vantage point. I got 6 gallons, paid, and then taxied to the parking spot. The eclipse already started. Probably overlapping by about the radius.
I parked my airplane at around 14:40. 30 minutes before the totality. I made it!
I studied what camera settings to use ahead of time by this web site. It had a very detailed camera settings. It was suggesting to use a tripod for stability. But, because I flew, I could not bring a large tripod. However, my Olympus OM-D E-M1X has the state-of-the-art shake reduction capability. When I took pictures of a moon, with 400mm lens (with 2x crop factor, equivalent to 800mm tele-photo) it stabilized the image even with more than 1-sec exposure. I needed like 1/60 seconds and 1/30 seconds, which the camera and lens should easily stabilize. I bet on my camera.
The site also recommended to pre-focus and lock the focus. But, after pre-focusing, the focus tends to mechanically drifts off slowly. So, the plan was to use pre-focus for the first 10 to 20 shots, then switch to auto-focus and let it re-focus on the eclipse. To pre-focus, I prepared a magnet quick-release lens filter and ND100000 filter. I chose exposure bracketing 0.7 step for 7 frames.
Below is the sun I took for pre-focusing with ND100000 filter on.
The sun was getting thinner and thinner.
Finally, I removed the filter to take the Diamond Ring! Unfortunately I got some ghost, which is the reflection inside the lens and camera body ended up landing on the camera image sensor.
But the subsequent images were nothing but impressive. I saw towering prominence clearly on my pictures!
I had pictures of Corona more than I was hoping.
I tried to get bigger Corona. However, the picture got somewhat smoky. Why was it? Actually there was a thin-layer of high cloud. Apparently the light from corona lit the cloud and my camera ended up with capturing it. Well, I think it was too much to ask. I already had many of once-in-lifetime pictures.
I also tried hand-holding High Dynamic Range pictures, but it didn't come out well. I was too optimistic.
I was planning to change camera settings and take many pictures. However, after first 10 or 20 shots, I realized I had good ones already. For the rest, I decided to just watch it and enjoy the experience. When you take a picture, you should open both of your eyes. That's what I learned from a high-school friend who was in the photography club. So, my left eye always enjoy watching real things, but my right eye usually saw things through the finder. This time, I gave my right eye to see real total solar eclipse.
By the way, I also brought the first-in-history consumer digital camera QV-10. I was curious how QV-10 can take a picture of the eclipse, and here is the result. Probably it is the first time ever QV-10 was used for taking a picture of the total solar eclipse, and maybe the last.
It shows the extremely rapid evolution of the digital camera. 30 years ago was ↑. Now ↓。
I think the picture targets are food for the camera. If I feed good targets to my camera, my camera gets more experience and levels up. This solar eclipse should have increased my OM-D E-M1X experience points substantially. ... Then this QV-10 must have gained experience point good for level up for more than one level. Maybe it will grow up to be a digital SLR tomorrow. (* What happens actually is the photographer's experience increases.)
By the way, auto-focus did not work too well. Pre-focusing was better. As for the exposure and shutter speed, thin-layer of high cloud could have filtered off some brightness. So, it could be faster if the sky was clear.
I realized that the surroundings was not totally dark. I was thinking that it would become dark like midnight, but it was like just after sunset. I looked away from the sun, and realized that the sky near the horizon was actually as bright as sunset. I felt I should take it. I took out my iPhone from the holster, opened the camera app, and pressed the shutter, exactly when the totality was over. The picture was supposed to have captured the diamond ring, but it is somewhat difficult to perceive on the iPhone picture. One thing I learned is, even during the totality, the environment won't become totally dark.
It was a beautiful and magnificent moment. My wife was somewhat reluctant to go before, but she was utterly impressed by the experience. The corona was somewhat quivering, but I cannot tell it was really quivering, or it was due to the passing thin cloud. I am guessing the effect was coming from the cloud. But, the cloud filter was creating a mystical visual effect.
I was impressed when I flew over the Niagara Falls. Flying over the Golden Gate Bridge was nothing but magnificent. Flying around Oahu island was unforgettable memory. But, this flight was the most memorable flight I've ever flown. I was really glad I was a pilot.
Return flight. After the totality, airplanes started taking off. But, there were less airplanes than I was expecting. Around 16:00, I started the engine, then I took off with almost no wait.
I really appreciate Findlay airport accepting my Cessna. It was a nice airport. Thank you, Findlay airport!
The air-traffic controller was extremely busy, almost always talking to someone. As I came close to Beaver, he was notably tired. I suppose his workloed jumped up after the eclipse. I was one of his workload though. When I was not experienced, I didn't have my capacity to say thank you on the radio, but now when I am handed off, I say "Thank you very much! Have a good day!" on the radio. I appreciate ATC a lot for keeping aviation system safe.
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