Credit: Alaska Airlines
ANCHORAGE — Alaska Airlines shared video of the solar eclipse as seen from 35,000 feet on Flight 870 from Anchorage to Honolulu.
The flight left Anchorage on Tuesday around 2 p.m. local time. The eclipse peaked around 4:38 p.m. local time.
Over a year ago, Joe Rao, an associate astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History, discovered the Alaska Airlines flight would intersect the “path of totality” during the eclipse.
Rao and a dozen other “eclipse chasers” were on Tuesday’s flight to observe the solar event from 35,000 feet.
Alaska Airlines changed its flight path to allow for prime viewing of the event, the company wrote on their official blog.
“It’s an unbelievably accommodating gesture,” said Mike Kentrianakis, solar eclipse project manager for the American Astronomical Society, who will be in seat 6F. “Not only is Alaska Airlines getting people from Point A to Point B, but they’re willing to give them an exciting flight experience. An airline that’s actually talking to their people – and listening! That’s customer service at its best. It’s become personal.”
Video of the event was shot by Mike Kentrianakis/American Astronomical Society.
