Two air force planes film total solar eclipse

AGRA - An AN-32 transport aircraft and a Mirage-2000 trainer of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Wednesday successfully chased the sun’s shadow to film the total solar eclipse, the longest one of the 21st century.

Two separate missions from Agra and Gwalior were flown for the experiment, an official said.

The AN-32 aircraft carrying scientific equipment, cameras and scientists took off from Agra and landed back after a three-hour flight, while the Mirage-2000 trainer flew from Gwalior and took images of the celestial spectacle from 42,000 feet.

The mission was a huge success. We got excellent footage of the eclipse. This was made possible by the perfect planning and execution by the IAF pilots, said Vinay B. Kamble, director at Vigyan Prasar, while addressing media persons at Agra airbase after the flight.

The AN-32 mission was flown at 25,000 feet. The aircraft flew a southwesterly course from abeam Khajuraho, descending and aligning along the central axis of the eclipse.

The Mirage-2000 bisected the central axis in a northsouth direction to film the eclipse.

Since flying with the ramp open involves depressurisation, inhaling of oxygen separately becomes absolutely necessary at that altitude. We flew a practice mission to train everyone for the sortie, said the captain of the flight, Wing Commander D. Singh.

Ensuring the sun at six-o-clock position at the correct angle for cameras to be able to catch the phenomenon demanded a high degree of accuracy in flying, he added.

As the eclipse progressed towards the totality phase metamorphosing the morning sky from bright daylight to the twilight zone, the pilots had to switch on rheostats illuminating their instrument panel for a brief phase of night flying before resuming daylight flying after the eclipse.