The FAA has posted a comprehensive Domestic Notice on its website concerning the total solar eclipse on April 8. The notice is to inform pilots and aircraft operators of possible impacts to traffic and safety along the path within 50 nautical miles of the center of the eclipse between the hours of 10:00 UTC April 7 to 04:00 UTC April 10.
The notice includes a General section advising of possible delays issued in the form of ground holds such as Expect Departure Clearance Time (EDCT) for IFR departures and arrivals, airborne holds and reroutes. The FAA also warns that VFR flight following services, practice approaches and touch-and-go operations involving airspace in the path of the eclipse may be “extremely limited and possibly prohibited” for the duration of the time period.
The Domestic Notice also includes a list—with contact information—of 458 airports in the pathway. The airports are listed by the eight Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) they fall into. There are also NASA-generated maps showing the eclipse pathway and the times when the eclipse will be in totality along the route and a link to the NASA website page that contains full information on the event.
Good thing most of us know how to operate at night!
I was still half asleep when I clicked on this article thinking it was about the Eclipse aircraft. Got me. I think I’ll wait until my coffee is ready before I read my morning news from now on.
Curious as to just how fast the center of the Total Eclipse races across the USA on April 8, 2024. I see the moon’s shadow crosses the Tex-Mex boarder at 13:30 CDC. Traverses 2,200 statute miles to pass the center of New Brunswick, Canada at 16:35 Atlantic Daylight Time
2,200 miles from 14:30 EDT to 15:35 EDT which is 1.083 hours.
2,200 miles ÷ 1.083 hours = 2,031 miles per hour.
Lockheed SR-71? Oh yeah . . . all retired.
Might be interesting to watch progress of shadow via Geo-stationary weather satellite?
I don’t understand what the big deal is with the FAA and ATC on this. All of a sudden pilots can’t figure out how to fly at night or IFR? One of the drop zones I jump at has said they won’t be able to do lifts during the eclipse per ATC. If it is VFR out the only requirement for jump pilots’ is to notify 5 minutes prior, nothing requiring radar service or advisories. This entire thing smells of just another government excuse to ground everyone.
“This entire thing smells of just another government excuse to ground everyone.”
Really Matt? In my opinion this is about the potential for large numbers of aircraft to be converging on concentrated areas simultaneously, so “government” is simply saying, “hey folks, this is a risk factor. Consider it as such when you plan to fly into the area”. And maybe “government” is doing this because they know how much some folks badmouth safety management and formal risk assessment, so in this case “they” are doing you in particular a favor.
Matt, I am not sure if you are trolling, or if this is a real question. It has nothing to do with night flying or IFR. It has everything to do with how busy the airspace will be because of people wanting to be near the eclipse path. The last one (2017 maybe) put ATC down the crapper.
I suggest that readers review the actual article from FAA before drawing conclusions. It basically recommends flexibility at airports along the eclipse route because of anticipated heavy arriving and departing traffic. The load may cause delays.
I can guarantee that airports along the path of totality will be extra busy. When a friend and I flew to Alliance, NE, for the last total eclipse, the weather was IFR, and we had to hold over Sidney, NE, for almost 45 minutes and then shoot the approach into Alliance. The FAA had set up a temporary tower (in the bed of a pickup) to handle all the traffic. The weather cleared a few minutes before the eclipse (which incidentally was spectacular). When it was over, ATC would not accept either flight following or any IFR traffic, and so the traffic leaving was amazing—looking out the windows showed airplanes in every direction, and my iPad looked like there were airplanes everywhere beyond what I could see out the windows. Because there was no real system in place, it was a real concern. No close calls for us, but later I heard of several that others had.
This time I’m taking my camper, and I’ll be in place 2 days early, to avoid the ground traffic. From what we could see from the air, the ground traffic was a lot like a slow moving parking lot, both going and coming.