Alaska Airlines Solar Eclipse Flight #870

Let me tell you a story... Once while flying to Maryland from Hawaii where I was stationed following my tour in Vietnam, I had a layover in Oakland. The next leg was a Red Eye flight (at night) and we hit something on the runway as we were taking off. All the little compartments opened and the oxygen masks fells down in our faces. The life raft compartment opened and it fell into the center aisle. I was just about to put the oxygen mask on when I realized we weren't yet 100 feet off the ground. Being in uniform, I helped the flight attendants (stewardesses in those days) put everything back. Shortly after we were done, the pilot chimed in "Quick everybody, look out the right side of the plane!" I jumped across the aisle expecting to see the engines falling off the wing. Instead, we were treated to a rocket launch from Vandenburg. The first stage burned until it appeared level with us (probably higher but over the horizon) and then the second stage lit up and shot out into space faster than a bullet. That was exciting and there were plenty of ooh's and aah's...

CPT Jack Durish - That would be something to see for sure!