Generally Safe Eclipse For GA

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The aviation event that was the eclipse of Aug. 21 appears to have gone off with barely a hitch and so far our inexhaustive search for mayhem has found but one relatively minor incident possibly related to eclipse flights. A 1947 Luscombe Silvaire had some trouble on takeoff from Perryville Municipal Airport in Missouri just after the eclipse and flipped on the infield. The pilot and sole occupant was not badly hurt, if at all. There was also a pre-eclipse crash in Madras, Oregon, that killed the pilot. The NTSB hasn’t yet updated its accident database to include Monday but if there had been serious problems we likely would have heard about it. AVweb reader Mark Cheplowitz gave us graphic insight into what it was like along the path of totality.

He was cruising IFR at 7,000 feet in Tennessee with his iPad on as part of an organized flight to the eclipse path. The tablet showed just how many aircraft there were flying during the celestial event. “I was one of the many that flew the eclipse path while it was in progress over rural Tennessee,” he wrote to AVweb in an email. “My ForeFlight screenshot tells the story. ATC did a fabulous job keeping us from banging into each other. I think it would be a class act to thank them.” Hear hear.

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