Red-eye flight observing

by Stacy McDermott


Now that I'm fully back on west coast time, I thought I'd take a moment and write up my observing report from last weekend. Funny how it works out that when you don't expect to do any observing whatsoever (as in my case having to fly to JFK for some training at our company's headquarters in Long Island - land of rain surprisingly enough) that something spectacular seems to happen.

Last Friday night, I boarded an American Airlines red-eye flight into JFK. I figured that observing at best would be the full moon through the trees somewhere in northern New Jersey (I spent a couple extra days with family before the Monday onslaught of training).

Flight started off nice and smooth and I settled in to catch some z's. About an hour into the flight, we hit turbulence - not my favorite flying activity unless of course I've had my prerequesite of 2 glasses of wine. Low and behold, as I looked out the window to keep myself calm, I saw for the first time ever in my life, the aurora borealis. I was amazed and it brought to tears looking at these flowing, pulsating curtains of light. Amazingly enough, they seemed not only to appear vertical but also they seemed to be horizontal, flowing over the plane. I couldn't keep my eyes off of them so much so that I did not get any sleep. What struck me in particular, was how "columns" of pulsating light "packets" would rise from the bottom and emerge upward. They seemed alive with rythym, pulsating with a life force that touched the depths of my soul. The aurora continued on through out the flight and it was only when we were getting close to the East Coast and the first signs of dawn were peeking over the horizon, did they fade away.

Upon debarking from the plane, I stopped by the cockpit and asked the captain and crew if they had seen them also and at about what point the aurora started. The captain informed me that they started just as we hit Nebraska and lasted, from what they could tell, just east of Lake Erie. He also said I should have seen it from the cockpit! (Funny how FAA rules don't allow that!) The captain said that basically all they could see were the aurora filling up their windows - thank God for instrument flying!!

Every so often, I also saw meteors and fireballs streaking across and fading into the aurora...from what I could tell as far as where our position was roughly at, that those meteors could have been the Perseids.

Even if they were not, I don't have words to adequately describe the beauty and wonder that I expereinced on that flight. Now, whenever I have to fly to the east coast, I'll gladly take the red-eye flight with a north window seat.