There we were sat fat, dumb and happy, in clear air, somewhere over Southern Turkey at FL370 around 11.00 utc this morning, when I said to the Skipper ‘Has the light gone a little strange, or is it me’?? He agreed and it was then that I realised the sky above us was….well, night time, Stars out all over the place!!! The sun was virtually overhead (amongst the stars) and after managing to angle the sun visor, and donning the sunnies, I could make out a small section of the sun was missing!
Within a couple of minutes the whole sun was blocked out (we presumed by the moon) and it was night within a small radius of what looked like a hundred miles or so, with normal sunlight beyond. Most weird! It lasted just long enough for half the cabin crew to come up front for a look and then daylight (and the sun) returned!! I never thought I would get to witness this rare event in my life, let alone when minding my own business several miles above the earth!
On getting home I did a search and found this on’t tinternet!
On Wednesday, 2006 March 29, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in Brazil and extends across the Atlantic, northern Africa, and central Asia where it ends at sunset in western Mongolia. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the northern two thirds of Africa, Europe, and central Asia.
Did anyone else get to see this phenomenon today?? Has anyone had any similar bizarre unexpected events whilst flying??
W-S