It doesn't seem quite right to pick apart a private family email from an obviously enthusiastic father, and I stand to be corrected as only a casual observer my

It doesn't seem quite right to pick apart a private family email from an obviously enthusiastic father, and I stand to be corrected as only a casual observer myself, but a lot of his message seems pretty misleading. Apart from the unobstructed view and the fun factor, I don't think being on a plane bestows any great advantage to the casual observer versus being on the ground. The last full lunar eclipse we had here I heard many people comment on how 3D - "marble like" - it looked, that's not something that's going to be any better from a plane, nor is it an effect which "pops" out at you, in my experience. Also, due to its atmosphere, the Earth's shadow is certainly not "sharply edged", far from it, and you won't be seeing its edge climbing mountains and valleys, nor be able to calibrate your watch to the second from the start of it. Again, being on a plane won't make any difference on this front. Ironically, for great views of sharp edged shadows its a partial moon you want to observe. Finally, if my use of https://staratlas.com/ https://staratlas.com/ is correct, I don't think the moon is going to be at a straight though the window level as it begins for them over Oman unfortunately, but rather at 45 degrees up, so some neck craning is going to be needed after all unfortunately.