ISS pass flare!

I just saw the pass on the ISS at 17:58 to 18:01 this evening and initally thought that it was an Iridimum satelite I was watching as it's brightness was growing rapidly. But this was brighter than any Iridinun flare I have ever seen. It was bright enough to nearly dazzle and so bright that I would find it difficult to put a magnitude on it.
Note that the sky was still quite bright at this stage and there was high haze cloud.
It was nearly due west at the time and at about 30 degrees. It then returned to its normal (now brighter since the additions of the new solar panels) brightness for the rest of the pass till it disapeared in the SSE.
Did anyone else see it?

Didnt see it Michael, but your observation confirms the accuracy of the ISS flyover predictions from heavensabove.com

Date Mag Starts Max. Altitude Ends

05 Nov 1.7 17:56:56 10 W 17:59:07 20 SSW 18:01:18 10 SSE

Michael,
I looked out for the ISS over the bank holiday weekend, but nary a glimpse. Congrats. Do you think that it would yield any sort of an image in a pair of 10x50s ?

Hi Skee,

Do you think that it would yield any sort of an image in a pair of 10x50s ?

I have suceeded in following the ISS manually with the Dobsonian telescope at 30X, so I can say that you would definately not see anything other than a bright dot at 10x. At 30x it is little more than a small blob. Having said that I have not tried since its recent "extension"