Solar eclips - aka: the end as we know it...

I must wonder how many Eclipse owners are going aloft to see the eclipse?:eek:
 
Maybe one can refresh the 'night currency' during the eclipse? Save the adult beverages until later.
 
Clark1961 said:
Even Guernsey, WY is booking...translation: ain't no hope.

I'm planning to drive to be in the totality, that way if the world ends at least I'll have a car.
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Go early. CDOT says I-25 northbound usually handles 86,000 cars a day. They're expecting 600,000 vehicles headed up into Wyoming. They think the I-25 corridor will see something near 400,000.

We both know those numbers won't work. :)
 
denverpilot said:
Go early. CDOT says I-25 northbound usually handles 86,000 cars a day. They're expecting 600,000 vehicles headed up into Wyoming. They think the I-25 corridor will see something near 400,000.

We both know those numbers won't work. :)
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I won't be in the I 25 cooridor. I've driven it too many times. Wadworth north, ft Collins, laramie, Rawlins, Casper. Easy-peasy
 
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chartbundle said:
Here's a sectional view: http://wms.chartbundle.com/charts/eclipse
In Oregon, Madras has been booked up for months.
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Weather permitting (I'm not instrument current) we'll launch from OLM in the morning and fly down to the vicinity of Madras. Watch the eclipse from the air and depart the area. The FBO at Madras got $200 for landing, watching the eclipse and departing. No thanks, glad they sold out. I'll get gas somewhere else after we leave the area.
 
denverpilot said:
Go early. CDOT says I-25 northbound usually handles 86,000 cars a day. They're expecting 600,000 vehicles headed up into Wyoming. They think the I-25 corridor will see something near 400,000.

We both know those numbers won't work. :)
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You don't think they're overestimating the number of people that will give enough of a crap to relocate to see it. I suspect many living in the path won't get off the couch to walk outside.
 
exncsurfer said:
You don't think they're overestimating the number of people that will give enough of a crap to relocate to see it. I suspect many living in the path won't get off the couch to walk outside.
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Probably not. Their estimate is only 0.5% of the humans living in just the Front Range, let alone anyone traveling into Colorado from the south, headed north, who wants to be in the path of the totality.

There's other ways to get through CO up into WY, but I-25 is the only north-south Interstate highway from the east side of the Rockies until you get to the other side of Kansas. West of here the next one is through Salt Lake... this isn't the east coast. Clark's route he mentioned is not the obvious route for most folks.

I suspect their estimate is low. A small percentage of every State south of us, from the desert southwest north? That's a lot of people.

Highway is built for (and regularly jammed at) 80,000 per day north of Denver, according to CDOT. 0.5% of the Front Range's population planning to go see it, doesn't seem like an out of whack estimate at all.
 
While I don't live in the path, I think that as I sit on the couch I might lift my arm enough to operate the remote to catch the eclipse on the evening news....
 
denverpilot said:
Probably not. Their estimate is only 0.5% of the humans living in just the Front Range, let alone anyone traveling into Colorado from the south, headed north, who wants to be in the path of the totality.

There's other ways to get through CO up into WY, but I-25 is the only north-south Interstate highway from the east side of the Rockies until you get to the other side of Kansas. West of here the next one is through Salt Lake... this isn't the east coast. Clark's route he mentioned is not the obvious route for most folks.

I suspect their estimate is low. A small percentage of every State south of us, from the desert southwest north? That's a lot of people.

Highway is built for (and regularly jammed at) 80,000 per day north of Denver, according to CDOT. 0.5% of the Front Range's population planning to go see it, doesn't seem like an out of whack estimate at all.
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I'm not sure I follow your math. The total population of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado comes up to 14.5 million people. Even if all 600,000 cars on I-25 were single-occupant, that's 4% of the total population. Front range is supposedly 70% of Colorado population, call it 3.9 million people, of which 600,000 comes to a little over 15%. If those cars average 2.5 people per car, you're talking almost 39% of the front range population. I don't think that's an unreasonably high estimate, but it's not 0.5%.

As far as seeing the eclipse, all my dreams are getting crushed here. I was going to fly to Casper, watch the world get dark, then continue to Cheyenne for Joe Bonamassa's concert that night. But Casper apparently won't allow me to land. Then I was thinking about flying to maybe Rapid City and renting a car to get to Alliance, but if the Alliance airport is already full I am sure the roads won't fare much better and I'd want to drive in a few days ahead of time.

I don't have any television broadcast channels, so I guess I'll just watch the eclipse on YouTube. May as well just check out a previous eclipse and save myself the waiting. :)
 
iamtheari said:
As far as seeing the eclipse, all my dreams are getting crushed here. I was going to fly to Casper, watch the world get dark, then continue to Cheyenne for Joe Bonamassa's concert that night. But Casper apparently won't allow me to land. Then I was thinking about flying to maybe Rapid City and renting a car to get to Alliance, but if the Alliance airport is already full I am sure the roads won't fare much better and I'd want to drive in a few days ahead of time.
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This might be a good place for you or anyone else to check out. Right near the center of totality, off most peoples' radar from what I can tell, and looks like plenty of parking (Harvard, Nebraska, former military field).

http://www.airnav.com/airport/08K
 
iamtheari said:
I'm not sure I follow your math. The total population of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado comes up to 14.5 million people. Even if all 600,000 cars on I-25 were single-occupant, that's 4% of the total population. Front range is supposedly 70% of Colorado population, call it 3.9 million people, of which 600,000 comes to a little over 15%. If those cars average 2.5 people per car, you're talking almost 39% of the front range population. I don't think that's an unreasonably high estimate, but it's not 0.5%.

As far as seeing the eclipse, all my dreams are getting crushed here. I was going to fly to Casper, watch the world get dark, then continue to Cheyenne for Joe Bonamassa's concert that night. But Casper apparently won't allow me to land. Then I was thinking about flying to maybe Rapid City and renting a car to get to Alliance, but if the Alliance airport is already full I am sure the roads won't fare much better and I'd want to drive in a few days ahead of time.

I don't have any television broadcast channels, so I guess I'll just watch the eclipse on YouTube. May as well just check out a previous eclipse and save myself the waiting. :)
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Fly to Laramie, rent a car. Plenty of hotel space and can still make the concert. Or fly to Rock Springs, or fly to Rawlins. Okay, car rental in Rawlins is a little tougher but there is a used car dealer who will rent cars. If you do go to Rawlins use my rule that you don't leave Rawlins without a full tank of gas. I understand that Coyotes need food too but that is no reason to violate my rule.
 
iamtheari said:
I'm not sure I follow your math. The total population of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado comes up to 14.5 million people. Even if all 600,000 cars on I-25 were single-occupant, that's 4% of the total population. Front range is supposedly 70% of Colorado population, call it 3.9 million people, of which 600,000 comes to a little over 15%. If those cars average 2.5 people per car, you're talking almost 39% of the front range population. I don't think that's an unreasonably high estimate, but it's not 0.5%.

As far as seeing the eclipse, all my dreams are getting crushed here. I was going to fly to Casper, watch the world get dark, then continue to Cheyenne for Joe Bonamassa's concert that night. But Casper apparently won't allow me to land. Then I was thinking about flying to maybe Rapid City and renting a car to get to Alliance, but if the Alliance airport is already full I am sure the roads won't fare much better and I'd want to drive in a few days ahead of time.

I don't have any television broadcast channels, so I guess I'll just watch the eclipse on YouTube. May as well just check out a previous eclipse and save myself the waiting. :)
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear you really want to see it and the prospects are low. I see lots of folks saying they're going to take a couple of pilots (hopefully one who's less interested than the other!) and just circle in the area while everyone else gawks out the window.

I'd offer to play the role of mildly disinterested pilot in my airplane but my co-owner has plans to go and solid enough lodging plans that the airplane won't be here.

Maybe hunt for a pilot to play PIC in your airplane who is a lot less interested in solar eclipses than you and also has a pretty good traffic scan? ;)
 
Oh BTW @iamtheari - I forgot to add, yes. I dicked up the math. LOL.

Still. A boatload of people planning to be on that highway and it isn't built for that.

I'll probably be home peeking in on the traffic cams to see if there's either one big traffic jam, or if the dire predictions were real. Either way, that's the fun part for me.

Don't much care about the sun being blocked by stuff. Orbits do that. :) Definitely not interested in the mass exodus and return.
 
denverpilot said:
Don't much care about the sun being blocked by stuff. Orbits do that. :) Definitely not interested in the mass exodus and return.
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Ahh take nap after eclipse then drive home at leisure. Map study last night revealed a route that avoids Rawlins and it involves several roads I haven't traveled before so will use it. Sure you don't want to go along or give the Dodge a backroads mission?
 
iamtheari said:
I'm not sure I follow your math. The total population of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado comes up to 14.5 million people. Even if all 600,000 cars on I-25 were single-occupant, that's 4% of the total population. Front range is supposedly 70% of Colorado population, call it 3.9 million people, of which 600,000 comes to a little over 15%. If those cars average 2.5 people per car, you're talking almost 39% of the front range population. I don't think that's an unreasonably high estimate, but it's not 0.5%.

As far as seeing the eclipse, all my dreams are getting crushed here. I was going to fly to Casper, watch the world get dark, then continue to Cheyenne for Joe Bonamassa's concert that night. But Casper apparently won't allow me to land. Then I was thinking about flying to maybe Rapid City and renting a car to get to Alliance, but if the Alliance airport is already full I am sure the roads won't fare much better and I'd want to drive in a few days ahead of time.

I don't have any television broadcast channels, so I guess I'll just watch the eclipse on YouTube. May as well just check out a previous eclipse and save myself the waiting. :)
Click to expand...
Check out the lesser known airports not on the exact line but within 70 nm, which will experience the totality. There's Torrington (KTOR), Phifer (KEAN), Converse (KDGW) Lusk (KLSK) - give 'em a call.
 
I'm wondering if someone will try to sell $100 hamburgers.


Anyone flying out to get this view?

images
 
Clark1961 said:
Ahh take nap after eclipse then drive home at leisure. Map study last night revealed a route that avoids Rawlins and it involves several roads I haven't traveled before so will use it. Sure you don't want to go along or give the Dodge a backroads mission?
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Nope. Appreciate the offer but definitely not interested. If you need the truck to run over stalled cars, that could be arranged. :)

Skyrys62 said:
I'm wondering if someone will try to sell $100 hamburgers.
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Hopefully lots. :)

But you've now given me another type of funny news article to watch for. Warnings that food and supplies may be in short supply in rural viewing areas and people grousing about how "unfair" it was to them and their ten spawn packed in the family truckster having to pay $300 to feed the goslings because the restaurants were "price gouging" and the shelves at the local grocer were bare.

A guy with a grill on a trailer and his buddy with a herd of cattle and a butcher with one heck of a big meat grinder, parked in the right place, could make a whole lot of cash in a weekend! :)

Probably way more than enough to cover the municipal fines for not having a food truck license in Wyoming. ;)

Hey Clark, if you need the truck to load a big grill into, with a trailer full of beef behind it, we could work out a price on that, too. :)
 
denverpilot said:
Oh BTW @iamtheari - I forgot to add, yes. I dicked up the math. LOL.

Still. A boatload of people planning to be on that highway and it isn't built for that.

I'll probably be home peeking in on the traffic cams to see if there's either one big traffic jam, or if the dire predictions were real. Either way, that's the fun part for me.

Don't much care about the sun being blocked by stuff. Orbits do that. :) Definitely not interested in the mass exodus and return.
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Are you saying that, for you, the nightly total eclipse when the Earth gets in the way of the sun is all the same as the kind where the Moon does the job? Maybe I should get on board with that and stay home without regrets! :)

Or I can fly to Denver and pick you up and we can just take pictures of the traffic. The Rockies don't get enough hurricanes for that kind of mass exodus to happen every year like it does in Florida. I think the best part will be when they all turn around and try to get back into or through Denver. Your later post predicting economically-misinformed complaints of price gouging makes me wonder how many will take the tollway and how many will just suffer on through the city.
 
iamtheari said:
Your later post predicting economically-misinformed complaints of price gouging makes me wonder how many will take the tollway and how many will just suffer on through the city.
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The tollway collapsed into uselessness when the airshow came to town at Aurora Reservoir. Technically it was because the planners didn't make Quincy a one-way to get everyone in, so it backed up into the toll road, but stopped traffic and 75 MPH traffic didn't mix well apparently.

Didn't take much.

Not that anyone in the know uses the toll road anyway. Just take Aurora Parkway right alongside of it at 55 MPH past the city dump. Free. ;)
 
denverpilot said:
I always thought that was a serious problem for CD in a real "the earth ends" scenario. :) They need robots.



Not too hard to manage **** that happens every night. LOL.

"Ermagherd! 1% of our local grid capacity is down!"
"Should we tell the natural gas peaker to spin up another turbine?"
"****, no. Are you kidding?"

:)
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Don't worry, we'll just fire up an idle power plant, and I'll send it some more nat. gas. We have a couple billion cubic feet sitting in underground caverns if we need it.
 
chartbundle said:
Here's a sectional view: http://wms.chartbundle.com/charts/eclipse
In Oregon, Madras has been booked up for months.
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Sadly, once again GA has failed to elevate me beyond the capabilities of the average terrestrial bound citizen. :( I had hoped to go there and land long enough to do the viewing. Likely it will be closed I guess. Folks with low and slow planes could go find a road, or field or something to land on for 10 minutes or so I suppose...
 
Hank S said:
Stay indoors on the 21st, and your world view won't be challenged. ;) :eek:
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Just because a flying saucer coincidentally blocks out the sun that day will not prove your crazy idea thet the earth is round and eclipses are real.
Sincerely
The Flat Earth Society
PS aliens are real!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Y'all have fun out there!!

FAA said:
FDC 7/9994 ZDC AIRSPACE WI 30 NM OF A LINE FROM PACIFIC CITY OR. TO GEORGETOWN SC. TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS WI AN AREA BOUNDED BY 454209N/1240906W (ASTORIA VOR/DME AST16627.7) TO 323904N/0755009W (GRAND STRAND VOR/DME CRE22011.3) TO 325200N/0793703W (CHARLESTON VOR/DME CHS10021.5) TO 444209N/1240906W (NEWPORT VOR/DME ONP34507.8) TO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POINT SFC-18000FT. EFFECTIVE 1708211700 UTC UNTIL 1708211900 UTC. TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION BALLOON ACTIVITY. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.137(A)(2) TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT. ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS ARE PROHIBITED EXCEPT FOR: APPROVED LAW ENFORCEMENT, MILITARY AND UNITED STATES AIRCRAFT DIRECTLY SUPPORTING THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) APPROVED AIR AMBULANCE FLIGHTS, AND REGULARLY SCHEDULED COMMERCIAL PASSENGER AND ALL-CARGO CARRIERS OPERATING UNDER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TSA-APPROVED STANDARD SECURITY PROGRAMS/PROCEDURES: AIRCRAFT OPERATOR STANDARD SECURITY PROGRAM (AOSSP), FULL ALL-CARGO AIRCRAFT OPERATOR STANDARD SECURITY PROGRAM (FACAOSSP), MODEL SECURITY PROGRAM (MSP), TWELVE FIVE STANDARD SECURITY PROGRAM (TFSSP) ALL CARGO, OR ALL-CARGO INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PROCEDURE (ACISP) AND ARE ARRIVING INTO AND/OR DEPARTING FROM 14 CFR PART 139 AIRPORTS. ALL EMERGENCY/LIFE SAVING FLIGHT (MEDICAL/LAW ENFORCEMENT/FIREFIGHTING) OPERATIONS MUST COORDINATE WITH ATC PRIOR TO THEIR DEPARTURE AT 313-234-5789 TO AVOID POTENTIAL DELAYS. JENNY TUTONE TELEPHONE 816-867-5309 IS IN CHARGE OF THE OPERATION. WASHINGTON ARTCC (ZDC) 202-234-5789 IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY. EFFECTIVE 1708211700 UTC UNTIL 1708211900 UTC.
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Anymouse said:
Y'all have fun out there!!
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Is that bogus(and/or a joke)?, I see:
FDC 7/9994 Download shapefiles
Issue Date : August 14, 2017 at 0620 UTC
Location : 8 NM NE SOMES BAR, California
Beginning Date and Time : August 14, 2017 at 1300 UTC
Ending Date and Time : October 13, 2017 at 0300 UTC
Reason for NOTAM : TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR FIRE FIGHTING AVIATION ACTIVITY
Type : Hazards
Replaced NOTAM(s) : N/A
 
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