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I was watching the eclipse in Corvallis and, about 10 minutes before totality, a plane jetted around at high altitude and left a contrail[1]. The new cloud, in

I was watching the eclipse in Corvallis and, about 10 minutes before totality, a plane jetted around at high altitude and left a contrail[1]. The new cloud, in the otherwise perfectly clear sky, began to drift toward the sun and I thought, "There could be few better symbols of the attitude that some of %0.0001 have to the rest of us than this." Fortunately, even though the contrail did drift over the sun during totality[1], it was very thin (and dark) and did not distract and the event in the least. I'm glad Alaska Air did this flight over the Pacific and not where they would distract hundreds of thousands of people with their flight. Anyone know how to find out what flight (or private jet) was the one I saw was? Would be an interesting fact to add to my memory of the event. Please forgive the many artifacts from this smartphone camera. [1] Before totality (https://njarboe.com/eclipse/beforeTotality.jpg https://njarboe.com/eclipse/beforeTotality.jpg) [2] During totality (https://njarboe.com/eclipse/totality.jpg https://njarboe.com/eclipse/totality.jpg). This photo was right at the beginning of totality and in no way captures what I saw, but does show where the contrail ended up. I was more interested in experiencing the eclipse than trying to get a photo.

ryanwaggoner 9y ago
Fascinating that you have no idea what flight it was, but you immediately chalked it up to another example of "the 0.0001%" harming you. That's pretty ridiculous. For all you know, it was on some kind of humanitarian mission. Statistically, of course, it was probably just a routine commercial jet full of average people. What's crazy to me is someone on the ground in a small town thinking that the global ATC system should route around them (and apparently all small towns and random gatherings of people) so that they won't miss seeing an eclipse.
- njarboe 9y ago
  Earlier in the day, before the eclipse, there were a dozen or more private jets flying over my sister's place into the local airport when the previous days there were none. Some even had to circle (to wait for others to land?). This probably primed my mind about private jets. Then this jet was not just flying straight through but came from the south, turned to the east, and then headed south. Could have been NASA? That is why I was querying about how one would find out about it? My thought about it was more of how perfect the symbolism would be if the jet was say Ellison's than a knee jerk reaction against the 0.0001%. The efforts and accomplishments of many 0.0001% er's have brightened my life over the years and I wish most of them the best of luck.
  - dingaling 9y ago
    Did you do a replay on one of the ADS-B sites? Try fr24.com, you can go back one month without an account I think. Convert your local date and time to UTC. Here you go, jiggle the time slider around a bit. This is for 17:00 UTC, 09:00 PDT, on 21 August 2017: https://www.flightradar24.com/2017-08-21/17:00/12x/44.61,-123.26/9 https://www.flightradar24.com/2017-08-21/17:00/12x/44.61,-12... You can pause and click on an aircraft icon for more information. Some will have their registrations blocked on request but usually have their type indicated ( so you can determine bizjet or airliner ).
    - njarboe 9y ago
      That is a cool website. I would guess the plane is the one labeled FA7X on this site. Looks like it came from Boeing Field, flew out near Newport on the coast, followed the eclipse path just north of Corvallis out to eastern Oregon, and then back to Boeing Field landing around 10:54am Pacific. It was going fast and at high altitude (about 41,000ft and 430 knots), unlike most of the other planes in the area. Its altitude probably explains why it was the only jet creating a visible contrail. If this was the jet, it shows how bad eye witness testimony can be as it flew almost due east over where I was. The site says its a Dassault Falcon 7X; so a bizjet type plane. No tail number like many other planes shown. A quick google did not get me a list of the planes in and out of Boeing Field that day, but I would imagine it's available somewhere.
      - dingaling 9y ago
        Glad you found it. The 7X is popular for eclipse hunters, they can cruise high and stable and have good-sized windows and can take about 18 people with all their kit; they also form their contrail aft of the tail due to the engine location, so less interference for photography. I have a couple of friends who flew on one over the Faroes during the 2015 eclipse, there were more than a dozen chartered aircraft circling for that one.
lynxbat 9y ago
I was also near Corvallis. More shots of the contrail https://instagram.com/p/BYEJY9_nhCZ/ https://instagram.com/p/BYEJY9_nhCZ/ https://instagram.com/p/BYEHhpfnYRn/ https://instagram.com/p/BYEHhpfnYRn/ https://instagram.com/p/BYEGj1GH2JS/ https://instagram.com/p/BYEGj1GH2JS/
DigitalJack 9y ago
Saw that too, from Albany.
evincarofautumn 9y ago
Strange, I was between Corvallis and Albany and don’t recall that at all. I must have been too distracted by the experience to notice much. We put on Dark Side of the Moon as thematic music. By pure accident, the climactic finish of the album, “Eclipse”, just happened to start playing as totality hit, and ended as the “diamond ring” appeared. I’ll never forget those two minutes as long as I live.
johnpowell 9y ago
My mom drove me up from Eugene. We planned to go all the way to Corvallis but we saw a lot of people out so we stopped short and parked in a field. And I did see that plane and the contrail. If anyone is curious what it looked like when recording with a iPhone6 propped against a Snapple bottle on the roof of my mom's car. Here you go. https://stfudamnit.com/ryan/eclipse.mp4 https://stfudamnit.com/ryan/eclipse.mp4 edit.. It looks like you can see the contrail on the right in the video.
ktRolster 9y ago
This photo was right at the beginning of totality and in no way captures what I saw, It amazes me how inadequate every photo ever taken is compared to actually seeing the eclipse. They just don't capture the beauty of the corona.

ryanwaggoner 9y ago

Fascinating that you have no idea what flight it was, but you immediately chalked it up to another example of "the 0.0001%" harming you. That's pretty ridiculous. For all you know, it was on some kind of humanitarian mission. Statistically, of course, it was probably just a routine commercial jet full of average people. What's crazy to me is someone on the ground in a small town thinking that the global ATC system should route around them (and apparently all small towns and random gatherings of people) so that they won't miss seeing an eclipse.

njarboe 9y ago
Earlier in the day, before the eclipse, there were a dozen or more private jets flying over my sister's place into the local airport when the previous days there were none. Some even had to circle (to wait for others to land?). This probably primed my mind about private jets. Then this jet was not just flying straight through but came from the south, turned to the east, and then headed south. Could have been NASA? That is why I was querying about how one would find out about it? My thought about it was more of how perfect the symbolism would be if the jet was say Ellison's than a knee jerk reaction against the 0.0001%. The efforts and accomplishments of many 0.0001% er's have brightened my life over the years and I wish most of them the best of luck.
- dingaling 9y ago
  Did you do a replay on one of the ADS-B sites? Try fr24.com, you can go back one month without an account I think. Convert your local date and time to UTC. Here you go, jiggle the time slider around a bit. This is for 17:00 UTC, 09:00 PDT, on 21 August 2017: https://www.flightradar24.com/2017-08-21/17:00/12x/44.61,-123.26/9 https://www.flightradar24.com/2017-08-21/17:00/12x/44.61,-12... You can pause and click on an aircraft icon for more information. Some will have their registrations blocked on request but usually have their type indicated ( so you can determine bizjet or airliner ).
  - njarboe 9y ago
    That is a cool website. I would guess the plane is the one labeled FA7X on this site. Looks like it came from Boeing Field, flew out near Newport on the coast, followed the eclipse path just north of Corvallis out to eastern Oregon, and then back to Boeing Field landing around 10:54am Pacific. It was going fast and at high altitude (about 41,000ft and 430 knots), unlike most of the other planes in the area. Its altitude probably explains why it was the only jet creating a visible contrail. If this was the jet, it shows how bad eye witness testimony can be as it flew almost due east over where I was. The site says its a Dassault Falcon 7X; so a bizjet type plane. No tail number like many other planes shown. A quick google did not get me a list of the planes in and out of Boeing Field that day, but I would imagine it's available somewhere.
    - dingaling 9y ago
      Glad you found it. The 7X is popular for eclipse hunters, they can cruise high and stable and have good-sized windows and can take about 18 people with all their kit; they also form their contrail aft of the tail due to the engine location, so less interference for photography. I have a couple of friends who flew on one over the Faroes during the 2015 eclipse, there were more than a dozen chartered aircraft circling for that one.

lynxbat 9y ago

I was also near Corvallis. More shots of the contrail https://instagram.com/p/BYEJY9_nhCZ/ https://instagram.com/p/BYEJY9_nhCZ/ https://instagram.com/p/BYEHhpfnYRn/ https://instagram.com/p/BYEHhpfnYRn/ https://instagram.com/p/BYEGj1GH2JS/ https://instagram.com/p/BYEGj1GH2JS/

DigitalJack 9y ago

Saw that too, from Albany.

evincarofautumn 9y ago

Strange, I was between Corvallis and Albany and don’t recall that at all. I must have been too distracted by the experience to notice much. We put on Dark Side of the Moon as thematic music. By pure accident, the climactic finish of the album, “Eclipse”, just happened to start playing as totality hit, and ended as the “diamond ring” appeared. I’ll never forget those two minutes as long as I live.

johnpowell 9y ago

My mom drove me up from Eugene. We planned to go all the way to Corvallis but we saw a lot of people out so we stopped short and parked in a field. And I did see that plane and the contrail. If anyone is curious what it looked like when recording with a iPhone6 propped against a Snapple bottle on the roof of my mom's car. Here you go. https://stfudamnit.com/ryan/eclipse.mp4 https://stfudamnit.com/ryan/eclipse.mp4 edit.. It looks like you can see the contrail on the right in the video.

ktRolster 9y ago

This photo was right at the beginning of totality and in no way captures what I saw, It amazes me how inadequate every photo ever taken is compared to actually seeing the eclipse. They just don't capture the beauty of the corona.