The plane banked from side to side looking for a view, but passengers had to sink onto the floor, contort their bodies or crane their necks to catch a glimpse.
The Embraer ERJ-145 flew above the first layer of puffy clouds. Then it climbed higher above a layer of wispy ones. The 30 passengers on the JSX flight escaped the weather that worried so many other eclipse viewers across Texas .
The plane departed Dallas Love Field a little after 1 p.m. and flew northeast along the path of totality, waiting for the moon’s shadow to overtake their ride. SEE MORE: Photos from the total solar eclipse in Texas But the passengers – a mix of sweepstakes winners, high school students in a STEM program and journalists – would have their own challenges viewing the celestial show. The sky darkened and outside the windows it looked like dawn or dusk. With the sun straight overhead, the plane banked from side to side at 45-degree angles to get a view. Yet the moon-sun interaction wasn’t immediately visible. Passengers had to sink onto the floor, contort their bodies or crane their necks to catch a glimpse of the sun’s corona – the outermost atmosphere that is only visible as a halo of light when the moon completely blocks the sun. Some passengers saw it and marveled at its beauty, happy for a glimpse no matter what position they had to take. Others didn’t see it at all. Air traffic control was inundated with planes along the path of totality, said Alex Wilcox, CEO of JSX, a public charter company that allows customers to book seats on point-to-point destinations. Delta Airlines had special eclipse flights, Southwest Airlines advertised flights that were likely to offer views and many private planes took to the sky. Wilcox didn’t want to charge for the JSX flight, which he hoped would have had more airspace to maneuver. RELATED: Texas reactions to solar eclipse include many Houstonians upset over cloudy conditions “We knew it was going to be a challenge with the sun up high,” said JSX CEO Alex Wilcox, who was aboard the flight and said he was still moved by the experience. “Just watching everything go dark and the sun rise in the west, I’d never seen that before.” Many of the passengers were also happy with the experience. The flight was affectionately dubbed the “Solar Express” and offered special drinks including the solar sunset spritz and the eclipse elixir. Freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches, dubbed astronaut food, and Moon Cheese gouda cheese bites were offered to passengers on the nearly two-hour flight. Everyone had a window seat. And flight attendant Heather Kuhn Shuman brought the humor: “How does a barber cut his hair today? He eclipse it.” Aubrey Cowart, of Coppell, celebrated her 41st birthday on the flight and described it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Her friend, who won the ticket in a sweepstakes, brought Cowart along. “I did see it,” she said. “It was beautiful.” PLAN FOR NEXT TIME: Did you miss the total solar eclipse? Here's your next chance. Maegan Moore of Granbury brought her 9-year-old son Davis, who is really into space and astronauts. “He was just looking out the window the whole time,” she said. “He was pretty in awe.” Frank Jackson and his daughter Holly Jackson didn’t see the eclipse. They enjoyed the experience created by JSX and thought it was interesting to see the plane succumb to darkness. But Frank Jackson saw an eclipse from the ground in 1979 and said that was probably the better way to view the spectacle. Heather Buck, of Magnolia, didn’t see the eclipse either. But she believes the experience was better than what she would have had at home. The Houston area was not in the path of totality and had a bad weather forecast. “It’s raining in Houston today,” she said. “Even though we didn’t see the full thing, it’s way more than we would have experienced at home.”
Embraer Southwest Airlines Delta Airlines Davis Alex Wilcox Houstonians Frank Jackson Maegan Moore Holly Jackson Coppell Heather Buck Heather Kuhn Shuman Aubrey Cowart Texas Dallas Love Field Granbury Houston Magnolia ERJ-145 STEM Moon Cheese Solar Express
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