RE; Northern Lights Flight
I went on a Northern lights sight seeing flight from Newcastle in March last year. They generally occur in March and November. When we travelled it was in a Jet2 737 but I believe they have used other aircraft and operators in the past. The evening usually begins with an hours briefing with an astronomer before heading over to to the airport to check in for the flight. During the flight, ALL lights are turned off, (including Nav lights and strobes etc). The flight heads up to just north of the Shetland Islands and flies gentle figure eights before heading home. The whole flight lasts around 3 hours and gets back into newcastle at round midnight. Don't worry if when you check in if you don't get a window seat, everyone is rotated around regularly throughout the flight.
Hope that has cleared a few things up for you.
Adam