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HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — It’s a long shot, and an expensive one, but passengers on exactly one airline flight to Harrisburg International Airport are poised to experience the total solar eclipse Monday.
Two special eclipse-viewing flights to Detroit from points in Texas sold out long ago, but other flights could experience brief totality Monday by virtue of their usual routes. abc27 News analyzed Cirium schedule data to identify flights to and from Harrisburg with a chance of passing through eclipse’s path at the right time.
Exactly one flight — American Airlines flight 4851, a regional flight operated by SkyWest on a 65-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 from Chicago O’Hare to Harrisburg — appeared to be a good candidate. The flight is scheduled to depart Chicago at 1:16 p.m. Central Daylight Time (2:16 p.m. EDT) and arrive in Harrisburg at 4:05 p.m. EDT.
A review of the flight’s recent history on FlightAware — and overlaying that information with the eclipse’s forecast path, including when it will be visible in places like Cleveland — indicated it would have experienced totality Thursday, when the flight departed more or less on time, although possibly not Friday, when it was delayed.
Flights are on time more often than they’re delayed, which would indicate a decent chance of totality. On the other hand, the FAA has indicated it could change some flight routings precisely because of the eclipse, which could hurt flight 4851’s chances.
Fares for a same-day round trip — Harrisburg to Chicago in the morning, with a buffer of a few hours to have lunch at the airport and catch the perhaps-special flight back to Harrisburg — were about $700 Friday afternoon.
Flying from west to east, the eclipse would be visible from the right side of the aircraft. A seat map showed three window seats — two in first class and one in coach — available on the right side of flight 4851 Monday.
No flights from (rather than to) Harrisburg appeared poised to experience totality Monday.
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