Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

On Sunday evening, April 7th 2024, I flew from Prince George to Montréal and back in just 27 hours. A journey of five airplane rides over 8,600 kilometres, comprising 14 hours in the air, seven hours in airports and six hours walking around Dorval, Québec. I travelled from the BC Interior, to the Pacific Ocean, to the Atlantic Ocean, and back; all this for an event that lasted under one and a half minutes.

In 1793, Sir Alexander Mackenzie took nearly two years to reach what is now Prince George from Montréal, as he became the first known person to cross the North American continent and reach the Pacific Ocean in the Dean Channel off Bella Coola, fully 12 years before Lewis and Clark reached the mouth of the Columbia.

My first attempt to see a total solar eclipse was in the early 1970s while working for Air Canada in Toronto. This was the eclipse in Nova Scotia made famous by Carly Simon’s greatest hit song. With a colleague from the Reservec II team, we flew to Halifax, but alas we had neglected to reserve a rental car in order to reach the zone of totality at Antigonish, and none were available. Our consolation prize was to explore downtown Halifax and experience a 95 per cent total eclipse from the historic Citadel.

Plan B was to fly to Winnipeg in February 1979 to see the solar eclipse there, but in 1978 I had left Air Canada and moved to north central British Columbia for a different lifestyle.

 

I finally realized my lifelong goal to experience one of Nature’s ultimate wonders in August 2017 when my wife and I watched the Great American Eclipse in the high deserts of Idaho during a two-week driving and hiking tour of provincial, state and national parks on both sides of the border.

Then, on Monday April 8th, 2024 I stood with an ecstatic crowd of Montréalers in a waterfront park in the delightful community of Dorval watching the Moon’s shadow race towards us across the St. Lawrence River. The seagulls flew around confused, and gasps and screams of delight and wonder came from the crowd all around me as the breathtaking moment of the ‘diamond ring’ marked the start of just 87 seconds of totality.

Ruby red solar prominences appeared, along with the much larger solar corona, and the planet Venus was plainly visible nearby. The spectacle was encircled by a sundog caused by high clouds moving in from Ontario. The eclipse ended as it began with another spectacular diamond ring as sunlight briefly streamed through the Moon’s mountains.

The Niagara region had declared a state of emergency a few days earlier, as had the State of Idaho when we were there in 2017. Therefore, not wanting to rely on other means of transport in the aftermath of the eclipse, I had walked from the airport into Dorval via a convoluted route that I had pre-planned using Google Earth street views the previous day. By walking to Dorval instead of taking a cab, I would be certain of the route and timing to get back to the airport after the eclipse. During my nine years with Air Canada, I had flown in and out of the airport on many occasions, but always to and from downtown. I had never visited the delightful riverside community of Dorval that lent its name to the airport.

By mid-afternoon I was lethargically feeling the effects of being awake for more than 30 hours as I dragged my feet between the prospective viewing sites beside the St. Lawrence River. But I was so fully rejuvenated by the event itself, that I was able to complete the ten-hour return journey to Prince George in relative ease. This was aided by the fact that, following the eclipse, faced with an hour’s walk back to the airport, some Dorval residents whom I had been chatting with before the eclipse kindly offered me a ride.

I had booked the trip at the last minute on Saturday evening after closely monitoring weather and cloud forecasts all week. Based on historic weather records, Eastern Canada was supposed to have the worst prospects for the entire eclipse path, but that was upended a few days before with the promise of some of the clearest weather along the entire route of totality, especially from Québec to New Brunswick.

Was it worth it? Absolutely! Plus I got to revisit the city where I landed in Canada 55 years before, and had worked in off-and-on for nearly a decade; and, it was my re-introduction to flying after a four-year Covid hiatus. I have now experienced the wonder of two total solar eclipses under clear skies, one in the high deserts of Idaho and one at sea level.

I highly recommend to anyone to try and experience a total solar eclipse at least once in your life. The next opportunity will be in Iceland and Spain in August 2026, and if you want to be there, start planning now! 

 

Footnote: We had fantastic naked eye views of the diamond ring effects at the start and end of the eclipse, and of the ruby-red prominences close to the Sun's surface, and the much larger solar corona.

 

These images portray my journey to the eclipse, and the general ambience of the event. One thing that really adds to a total solar eclipse is to be with a crowd of people and to hear the rising excitement as the moment of totality approaches.

 

Click the image below to view a beautiful video of our momentous experience. 

 

Mike Nash
Prince George, British Columbia