Expedition to July 11, 2010 South Pacific Eclipse

Logistic problems with use of Hao Atoll airport by charter jets has made this trip impractical.

After my wonderful jet expedition to Enewetak to see the 2009 Eclipse I decided I wanted to do it again.

But "it" I mean having a jet at our disposal that will fly to the location with the best predicted weather, for the best chances of seeing the eclipse. Of course a jet is expensive, so I want to do it with 100 or so like minded people. I'm pricing it out, but it's something nobody has done before by jet charter. My very rough guess is the cost will be around $3,000 with enough folks.

The Eclipse

This July 11, 2010 eclipse hits almost no land. It goes over the South Pacific and hits southern Patagonia at sunset. There are 3 jet-capable airstrips in the ecipse path:

The plan: Evaluate the weather late on July 9 and decide which of the three has the best weather prospects. Fly there, have the eclipse and a day of tourism, and fly back -- probably all in a single weekend.

Because July 11 is a Sunday, most people will be able to take this trip taking at most one day off from work, and possibly no days at all with some itineraries. This should open the trip up to many people not willing to devote one of their vacation weeks the way all other eclipse tours typically require. Because we will not be spending a week away, the total price of the trip will actually be less than the eclipse tours I have seen.

Want to go?

Right now I am gathering interest to see if it is worth going further with jet charter companies. If this trip -- a fantastic weekend needing almost no time off work -- for around $3,000 sounds amazing to you, e-mail me at btm@templetons.com and let me know. If that's too much, tell me what would be a price to attract you, or you are interested in an even more all-business-class trip, also let me know that.

Options

Here are a few variations being explored as well. Since different itineraries will cost differently, we'll collect the most expensive one, and refund any money if a cheaper one is done.

1. It may make sense to fly first to Tahiti, and spend a night in a resort there with refueling, and then fly very early to reach Hao. Then a day on the beach and overnight return to the USA.
2. In El Calafate, hotel rooms may be available as well, allowing us to stay the night before or after, for a more relaxing trip. Note keeping the plane and crew extra days adds to the cost. Trips to the lakes and glaciers are reported to be stunning. It will be deep winter.
3. Note that because of high demand during an eclipse, any ground arrangements and lodging and perhaps even food will probably need to be prepaid whether we use them or not. However, that's just the cost of 3 days of this, making the trip still cheaper than other trips.
4. Easter Island is fully booked up. Even camping is expensive. Likely plan here is, alas, an overnight flight to the island, a day of tourism, and a mid afternoon eclipse, followed by another overnight flight. Grueling, but one day should give a good view of the statues. There is really little that is close to Easter Island for a suitable overnight stay beforehand. It might be possible to pack tents and sleeping bags
5. If all locations show overcast, the expedition can be cancelled, with a refund of a large fraction of the cost.
6. Alternately, in the event the site flown to is overcast, the jet can allow observation of the eclipse from the air by those who purchased a window seat on the appropriate side of the plane, possiby shared with a seatmate. Those on the other side will see much less, but the sight of the lunar shadow moving over the earth from a plane is still pretty cool. Those in the middle would be mostly out of luck. See below for more details.

Why this eclipse?

This eclipse hits almost no land, and only these 3 airstrips. So why go to this trouble? First of all, all eclipses are grand, and this is the next one, and a decently long one to boot. After this, the 2012 eclipse in Cairns, Australia has only one jet airstrip in its path, and it's a big city with plenty of hotels -- no need for a charter.

The 2013 eclipse is super-short and goes mostly over ocean and a troubled part of Africa. The 2015 eclipse again only hits one airstrip (Svarlbard) which is easy to get to. The 2017 eclipse goes over the USA -- many airports, all easily served by scheduled airlines. And besides, that's 8 years away. The 2019 eclipse is mostly over well populated and reachable Argentina, including just south of Buenos Aires at sunset. It has potential for short-range aircraft charter from within Argentina. In short, the 2010 eclipse is the only one for which an expedition like this makes good sense!

Aircraft

A likely aircraft is a 767-200ER. Such planes are often configured so we could have 34 business class seats and 140 coach seats with all middle seats empty. That's actualy quite a lot and would result in an even lower price. Everybody gets either a seat in a pair by the window or an aisle with empty middle -- not too bad.

Also being sought is a private luxury 767-ER with perhaps 80 all business class seats. Such a flight would be more expensive, but vastly more pleasant, both while sleeping, or during the social period, since it would allow much greater freedom of movement and socializing.

View from the Air

I believe an eclipse is best viewed on the ground, so you get the full sense of the moving bodies of the solar system (Earth, Moon and Sun) and see the wildlife, land and sea around you. However, an eclipse from the air has advantages and disadvantages. As a plus, it is guaranteed clear. The sky is darker allowing more corona to be viewed. The plane can fly on a path to slightly lengthen the eclipse.

As a minus the windows tend to be small and not perfectly clear. You are looking through a window, losing context. The eclipse must be viewed where it is near the horizon to get any view, even for the window seat. It must be very near the horizon to get a view from inner seats.

There are two scenarios for an air viewing. One would be a dedicated trip for an air view, if conditions are totally cloudy. This scenario is expensive as only perhaps 40 window seats can be sold, though the opposite windows have some attraction.

The alternate situation is an air view as emegency backup. In this case the flight has left for a location, but as the eclipse nears, the weather looks bleak. If it is totally bleak, everybody gets on board and those who paid extra for the right window seats get a good show, and then the plane flies directly home.

Alternately, those with window seats get on the plane and the rest take their chances on the ground. An eclipse behind clouds is actually quite impressive, I am told, though of course not like the real thing. And you can never know, sometimes the clouds part. Those on the plane see the eclipse, and the plane lands to re-board those who stayed behind, and then it flies back to the USA.

The three locations

Note on the distances: These are great circle distances, which can't be flown because they involve going over a stretch of ocean more than 3 hours from any airport