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Northern Lights Chasing


Tom Lynch

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Posted
  • Location: Cumbria UK
  • Weather Preferences: Cloud 9
  • Location: Cumbria UK

Lucky me

I have been given a golden opportunity to go chasing the northern lights in a jet plane. We fly north over Aberdeen and over the Shetland Islands, target area is somewhere near Icelandic/Norwegian airspace. It is this coming Thursday night I will post a report of my trip. Hopefully some photos.

Tom

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Posted
  • Location: Leigh On Sea - Essex & Tornado Alley
  • Location: Leigh On Sea - Essex & Tornado Alley

Lucky me

I have been given a golden opportunity to go chasing the northern lights in a jet plane. We fly north over Aberdeen and over the Shetland Islands, target area is somewhere near Icelandic/Norwegian airspace. It is this coming Thursday night I will post a report of my trip. Hopefully some photos.

Tom

:o :o

How did you get that gig Lynch!

Not Jealous.........Much!

Have a great time though ya old Bastardo

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Posted
  • Location: Cumbria UK
  • Weather Preferences: Cloud 9
  • Location: Cumbria UK

:o :o

How did you get that gig Lynch!

Not Jealous.........Much!

Have a great time though ya old laminate flooro

Wifes uncle got it for his 70th bithday and I said I always wanted to see the nothern lights. The following morning they rang me up and said there was a spare place. So watch this space. I will post a report in the correction location. Space etc.

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Posted
  • Location: Doncaster South Yorkshire 4m( 13ft) ASL
  • Location: Doncaster South Yorkshire 4m( 13ft) ASL

so hows this work then tom do you just get on the plane fly there see the northern lights(hopefully) and fly back then home to your own bed?.hope you have a good time anyway mate

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Posted
  • Location: Near Beverley, East Yorks. (5 metres a.s.l.)
  • Weather Preferences: Something good in all four seasons
  • Location: Near Beverley, East Yorks. (5 metres a.s.l.)

Yes, jealous of this !

Good luck in seeing the wonderful lights.

BL :)

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Posted
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W

Brilliant! Have a great trip :winky: . Seen a few from where I live and there's something about being under those dancing lights that make us and all our petinesses seem so small.

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Posted
  • Location: Hertford
  • Location: Hertford

What a great experience enjoy. We flew to Lapland a few years ago, and see them from the plane really magical experience.

And then when in Lapland we could see all this green in the sky over a row of trees, and took a shed loads of pictures, when we returned the next night there they were again glowing green, so i thought i would walk through the row of trees and get a better picture, as i got through the line of trees, camera poised for an excellent shot of the Northern lights, there in front of me was a hotel with green laser lights beaming into the sky :wallbash:

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Posted
  • Location: Cumbria UK
  • Weather Preferences: Cloud 9
  • Location: Cumbria UK

Yes it does look a little quiet atm. Fingers crossed it will pick up, it is four days before the trip.

Like the story about the lights on the hotel. I might get home and all my photos capture the lights on the end of the wing :D

Tom

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Posted
  • Location: Cumbria UK
  • Weather Preferences: Cloud 9
  • Location: Cumbria UK

so hows this work then tom do you just get on the plane fly there see the northern lights(hopefully) and fly back then home to your own bed?.hope you have a good time anyway mate

We meet up with some astromimer/astronomers/ experts who talk us through what causes the northern lights. We fly up towards Icelandic airspace where the plane flys on a holding pattern up and down so both sides of the plane get a good view. They have the interior of the plane in near total darkness. Woe betide any person who forgets to deactivate their flash. It will beat going out for a pint. I think I will be back home in bed some time around 3.30 am.

Have booked the Friday morning off work.

Tom

Edited by Tom Lynch
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Posted
  • Location: Cumbria UK
  • Weather Preferences: Cloud 9
  • Location: Cumbria UK

Good for you Tom. I would love to do this. Any idea how much it costs?

Hi John I will email you a few links. I have been getting my gear ready for tomorrow night. Having to turn off flash so I do not leave other light chasers with bright blobs in their eyes. Just in case I have also put black tape over the flash. I am taking camcorder along as well.

I do hope the pilot hasn't got an ABBA cd to play. :whistling:

http://dailymail.reader.travel/tour.php?d=0&c=9&s=42&t=294

http://omega-holidays.reader.travel/subcat.php?d=0&c=9&s=42

Tom

Edited by Tom Lynch
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Posted
  • Location: Cumbria UK
  • Weather Preferences: Cloud 9
  • Location: Cumbria UK

TRIP REPORT

It was fantastic experience that I would like to revisit. We did see a faint glimmer on the horizon but I will have to record the trip as being a bust day, well as far as the northern lights are concerned.

I have been a chaser long enough to know how the weather and the atmosphere can let you down sometimes.

We met at a hotel near the airport and were treated to a couple of presentations by two astromoners. One was the night sky and the other was on what caused the northern lights. Both had fantastic photos and well presented.

The plane was a boeing 737. We took over from John Lennon Airport and flew north, passing north west of newcastle. At this point all the cabin lights were turned off and the cabin was in total darkness. This allowed us to get a better vision of the night sky. The astronomers were to the front of the cabin and gave a running commentry about what we were seeing. One of the fun bits was rotating the passengers so that we all got a shot at the window. 130 passenegers swapping seats at 30+ thousand feet in total darkeness was another interesting experience. When we reached the 60 latitude the pilot put the plane into a racecourse holding pattern. At this point all we could see below was the occasional oil rig.

I didn't get any photos other than some in the cabin whilst testing to see in the flash had been turned off.

Some photos of the lights were taken by the astronomers and once posted I will post them up too.

Overall I enjoyed the trip as did a young girl from Preston called Steph, she occupied the seat next to me. Her mother had brougt her on this flight as a birthday present. Although she is studying astronomy she was also racing home to look at the Netweather website. This was my fault because I told her all about storm chasing. Her mother said thats it you have done it now, see you out in kansas.

As much as anything I love the flight . I have allways be a sucker for air flight and as a young kid growing up in ManchesterI would jump onto my bike and ride out to Ringway (Manchester Int Airport).

I well rememember that the main road ran passed the end of the runway and they used to stop the cars every time a plane took off. They had two people stationed on each side of the road to hault the traffic.

We could lay on the grass at the end of the runway and watch as the planes took off over us. They would never allow that now, due to H&S and terrorism etc.

Here is a shot that I took with my Kodak Brownie it is of one of the planes from those inocent times , Wright Brothers holiday company.

post-2466-0-77789100-1301137742_thumb.jp

:D

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