Passengers on airline flights during total solar eclipse share rare experiences
NORTH TEXAS – While most enjoyed the total solar eclipse on the ground, a select few got the chance to witness the celestial moment from the sky on flights passing through the path of totality.
"I shoot music. I shoot 30 to 40 music festivals a year," said Charles Reagan, an Austin-based professional photographer.
But on Monday, Reagan got the chance to shoot a different kind of star — the solar eclipse — on a Delta flight from Austin to Detroit.
"They had a huge fanfare at the airport," said Reagan. "For everybody on the plane, they had balloons."
Reagan snagged the tickets as a special birthday gift for his fiancé, an out-of-this-world experience that will be hard to outdo.
"It was such a weird and special experience to be up there with everybody," Reagan said. "Everybody kinda forgot we were flying."
The pilot did everything he could to make sure they got the perfect view.
"Our pilot, when we crossed over from Missouri to Arkansas I believe, did kind of a U-turn and was able to kind of tilt the plane so we were able to see it," Reagan said.
He was able to snap perfect shots of the eclipse 30,000 feet above the rest of us.
"It was kind of one of those like, 'Did I just see that?,' I kind of didn't believe it," said Reagan. "It was like quiet chaos. It was everybody trying to move to see it through the window, but like nobody was talking and the whole plane just went all the windows were open. So (when) the whole plane went dark, it was just so cool to see."
Even four-legged passengers got in on the fun.
"When we arrived in Dallas, you could only imagine it was a party atmosphere, but it was very quick that the dogs took over the party," said Mark Ruefenacht, founder of the National Institute of Canine Service & Training.
Ruefenacht leads an organization that trains service dogs to sense changes in body chemistry for people living with PTSD and diabetes. So of course he brought a couple of his friends along on Southwest's solar eclipse flight from Dallas to Pittsburgh.
"We did it for the fun of it, I've been an avid Southwest fan for 25 years," Ruefenacht said. "I've got about 2.5 million miles booked on them, so when they announced they were gonna do this special flight, I wanted to be part of their history."
While the human passengers were given solar eclipse glasses, service dogs Connor and Vito had their own goggles. And they came in handy, just 30 minutes into the flight.
"It actually got very, very bright and then we got into total darkness, and we were in total darkness for about 30 minutes, which was the beauty of the flight was that you tracked with the darkness path," Ruefenacht said.
It was that darkness that struck him the most.
"Just how quickly it got dark," Ruefenacht said. "This celestial brightness, then this overcoming darkness."
And even the pups felt the excitement.
"Of course, when it got dark what was the first thing my dog did? He told me it was dinner time, and it was not dinner time," said Ruefenacht, laughing .
But he said the experience was about more than just the eclipse .
"It was the experience of community, " said Ruefenacht. "It reminds us that with all the problems that we have in our world and the divisions in our country especially, there's something bigger out there and more powerful and it can all bring us together."